Woltair expands online heat pump, solar PV platform
After finding growth in its home market and Poland, Czech Republic-based Woltair raised venture capital to expand its heat pump and solar PV software platform, used by both installers and homeowners, into Germany and Italy.
Component sizing key for upscaling high-temperature heat pumps
A group of researchers has investigated how high temperature heat pumps may be upscaled for industrial applications and has found that larger setups promise higher efficiency. They also found that smaller setups show a better coefficient of performance resulting from design effects.
First attempt to build inverted perovskite solar cell based on nickel oxides delivers 20.06% efficiency
Scientists in Colombia have proposed to develop inverted perovskite solar cells with a hole transport layer based on indium-doped nickel oxide. The result is a champion device achieving an efficiency of 20.06% and showing remarkable stability.
Rooftop PV reduces building retrofitting costs by up to 50%
Cambridge researchers have analyzed the benefits of installing a PV system on the roof of an apartment building in addition to energy refurbishment and have found that photovoltaics, especially if combined with heat pumps, makes retrofit projects more affordable.
RETC releases 2024 PV Module Index
Solar modules are evaluated in the Renewable Energy Test Center annual PV Module Index.
Israel to provide incentives for hybrid solar inverters
Israel’s Ministry of Energy says it will exempt hybrid solar inverters from purchase tax and customs duties. It claims that these policy mechanisms will help during energy emergencies.
Reducing PV module temperature with cooled air from the ground
Researchers from Iraq have used computational fluid dynamics to simulate the operation of a 100 W panel with ground cooling. The proposed technique was reportedly able to reduce panel temperature by up to 28%, with power generation increasing by up to 6.5%.
ChatGPT can tell scientists how to build better perovksite solar cells, research says
An international research group has sought to build for the first time a perovskite solar cell with the help of ChatGPT. The experiment helped the scientists identify a series of materials for the cell composition and the results were cells with a higher power conversion efficiency compared to that of reference cells built without the material proposed by the large language model.
Chinese researchers build kesterite solar cell with certified efficiency of 14.2%
The solar cell was treated with multi-elemental alloying, which reportedly helped eliminate defects in the kesterite absorber, thus increasing cell efficiency. China’s National PV Industry Measurement and Testing Center confimed the results.
Lithuania testing bifacial PV in noise barriers
Two pilot projects are integrating PV into noise barriers, one alongside a railway near Vilnius, and the other along the national E5 highway connecting the cities of Kaunas and Vilnius.
