Technology and R&D

China’s Enerack says its new mounting legs are designed for 10-degree or 15-degree tilt angles. They are made of AL6005-T5 aluminum alloy and ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM), with a 304 stainless steel clamp.

Researchers at the University of New South Wales claim to have identified three TOPCon panel failure types that are absent in PERC products. They explained that these failures may occur when the modules are exposed to high humidity and contaminants before encapsulation.

An Australian research group has used an SMA inverter to switch the operating point of a PV array and has demonstrated its ability to create photoluminescence images for both rooftop and large scale solar installations.

Scientists in Israel have tested three different PV technologies to power a greenhouse hosting 400 cucumber seedlings. Their analysis has revealed that the PV module cover on the greenhouse’s roof has a “negligible” impact on crop yield, but they also noted that the greenhouse cover’s spectral transmittance and accumulated dust may negatively affect solar module performance.

The France-based group said its has released two new BESSs with enclosures of 7ft and 20ft. Their power ranges from 60 kW to 500 kW.

The Korea Institute of Energy Research has developed a solid oxide electrolysis cell stack that uses a special kind of separator plate to ensure proper flow of hydrogen and oxigen after water splitting. Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Bumhan Industries are now cooperating with the research center to improve relevant manufacturing process.

OCI has revealed plans to invest $617.9 million to expand production at its Malaysian manufacturing facility from 35,000 to 56,600 metric tons.

German and Swedish researchers calculated the supply of materials to produce perovskite tandem PV at a multi-terawatt-scale, flagging the difficult supply of gold, indium and cesium, well as a need to streamline production of certain materials used for hole-transport layers. “In essence, we might be able to go post-fossil fuels, but we can’t go post-minerals,” the research’s corresponding author, Lukas Wagner, told pv magazine.

Researchers in China have designed a two-stage, solar-assisted thermochemical heat pump system that uses caustic soda and water as a working pair. The system is reportedly able to achieve an energy storage density of 363 kWh/m3 and is considered by its creators an ideal solution for residential buildings with limited space.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory developed a proof of concept for a method to remove polymers from solar panel manufacturing to enable more efficient recycling.