First Solar opens US research facility
First Solar has commissioned the Jim Nolan Center for Solar Innovation in Lake Township, Ohio. It includes a high-tech pilot manufacturing line to produce full-sized prototypes of thin-film and tandem PV modules.
Sunswap rolling out PV-powered transport refrigeration
The U.K.-based technology company has launched Endurance, an electric transport refrigeration system with integrated battery and solar PV. It is built to compete with diesel-powered systems.
Optimizing grid-scale battery placement via quantum computing
A computing pilot program, housed within Europe’s largest electricity utility, Iberdrola, found that some quantum and quantum-inspired algorithms matched or outperformed existing benchmarks for optimal placement of grid batteries.
Chinese researchers build heterojunction silicon solar cell with MXene-based hole transport layer
A research group including scientists from Chinese module maker Longi has developed an undoped monocrystalline heterojunction cell that uses the promising MXene compound for the hole transport layer. The experimental device achieved an efficiency of 12.2% and was able to retain around 86% of its initial efficiency after 105-day exposure in ambient environment.
Trane launches all-in-one air-source modular multi-pipe heat pump
The Thermafit Air-Source Modular Multipipe heat pump uses R-454B as the refrigerant and has a size of 30 tons. The manufacturer said the system act as a chiller to cool the building, as a heat pump to heat the building, or as a heat recovery unit to deliver simultaneous heating and cooling.
Dutch utility Eneco uses residential batteries for grid stress relief
Dutch energy supplier Eneco has partnered with local energy storage manufacturer Charged to trial the use of solar power stored in home batteries of customers with fixed and variable contracts in a bid to alleviate stress on the grid.
Weiheng Ecactus releases high voltage lithium iron phosphate battery for residential PV
Weiheng Ecactus has unveiled its new Myrtillo battery system, with 4.99-29.9 kWh of capacity, giving users the flexibility to connect up to five units in parallel.
Singaporean startup achieves 22.6% efficiency for perovskite solar module
Singfilm Solar said the result was certified by China’s National PV Industry Measurement and Testing Center (NPVM).
All indoor PV technologies at a glance
A review of indoor PV cell technologies by an international research team delves into recent progress, characterization, and design strategies used to develop highly efficient cells. The study presents 250 commercial and laboratory devices, as well as applications and performance reporting.
New fault detection techniques for air-to-air heat pumps
Portuguese researchers have compared several applied machine learning techniques to detect faults in air-to-air heat pumps in cooling mode. The results showed a high level of performance based on four metrics.
