Technology and R&D

The novel heat pump concept combines solar energy with chemical storage and reportedly consume 75% less electricity than conventional heat pumps. The system relies on a battery and a heat storage tank that can be used either separately or simultaneously, depending on the outdoor conditions.

New research from Denmark shows PV-to-methanol facilities may achieve 30% lower levelized cost of methanol through engagement in reserve markets. The researchers examined the ability of a PV-to-methanol plant to contribute to the grid in frequency containment reserves (FCR), automatic frequency restoration reserves (aFRR), and manual frequency restoration reserves (mFRR).

U.S.-based PVFarm has released a web-based application for large-scale solar PV project planning at the early stage. It includes real-time energy models and building information model (BIM) features, reportedly supporting PV plant electrical, mechanical, civil, energy, and procurement aspects.

UIS Technologies has commissioned polyurethane (PU) recoating and regrooving solutions for wire guide rollers (WGRs) at Adani’s 2 GW solar ingot-wafer plant in Gujarat, India.

Researchers at the Delft University of Technology have designed an optical filter for the thermal management of IBC photovoltaic modules. The proposed technology can reportedly reduce the cell operating temperature by up to 2.5 C and extend the lifetime of a PV module by up to 2 years.

REC has developed a new series of heterojunction solar panels with efficiencies up to 22.5% and an operating temperature coefficient of -0.24% per degree Celsius.

The German research institute said the new 120 µm thin solar cell could exceed 25% efficiency with the next optimization steps. The device was metalized via screen-printed contact fingers and calibrated by scientists at the Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin.

Scientists in South Africa have proposed a new chalcogenide perovskite solar cell design based on a compound known as barium zirconium sulfide. They tested different hole transport materials in the new device and found that a polymer known as P3HT achieved the best performance.

Scientists in India have proposed using a multilayer neural network to find line-to-ground, line-to-line, and bypass diode faults in PV module strings. They tested the new approach on a 22.5 kW solar array and reportedly achieved “competitive” accuracy results.

Researchers in Italy have found that combining residential air heat pumps with air-geothermal heat exchangers may reduce power consumption by up to 30%. They tested the proposed combination using Matlab in a passive single-family building located in Valtellina, northern Italy.