Technology and R&D

Chinese manufacturer Beyondsun said the new panel series are relying on 182mm n-type half-cut TOPCon cells and super multi busbar (SMBB) technology. It reaches a maximum efficiency of 22.45% and its power output ranges from 415 W to 580 W.

Infinity Turbine has developed a new system that uses the electricity stored in a saltwater redox flow battery to produce clean drinking water from seawater. It said the technology can be used by cruise ships and cargo ships.

Scientists in China developed a novel swelling process to detach glass and EVA backsheets from solar modules at the end of their lifecycle. The technique utilizes an ester of a dicarboxylic acid known as dibasic ester. It reportedly prevents excessive cracking of solar cells.

The consortium says it intends to develop a simplified approach and best practices to produce 2T perovskite-silicon tandem solar products. The modules should have a bifacial design, glass-glass encapsulation, and a power output of over 300 W/m2.

Trane has released a rooftop air-to-air heat pump that can produce between 14.5 kW and 37.4 kW of heat and between 16.5 kW and 38.4 kW of cooling. The new device can purportedly be adapted to cold-climate applications by adding complementary heating sources such as electric heaters or hot water coils.

French developer Valeco has deployed an agrivoltaic installation on a fodder field and has found out it offers benefits for the quality and quantity of the crop, as well as for sheep grazing under the solar panels.

China’s Deye has developed a new lithium iron phosphate battery system with a nominal voltage of 51.2 V. It says that up to 32 modules with a capacity of 6.14 kWh can be stacked and connected in parallel for a total capacity of 196.48 kWh.

A research group in China has designed a perovskite solar cell with a new ligand known as 3-amidinopyridine. These molecules are reportedly able to efficiently reduce anion vacancy defects, thus ensuring higher power conversion efficiency and remarkable stability.

South Korean researchers have developed a heat trading system including a ground-source heat pump, solar thermal collectors, a fuel-cell system, and two heat storage tanks for district heating at hours of peak solar production.

With calls for a revival in European PV manufacturing becoming more urgent, the Environmental, Social, and Governance credentials of its PV producers are being touted as a way in which manufacturing can be supported or even protected. The case for the ESG credentials of European manufacturing was advanced by multiple speakers at the 2023 SolarPower Summit this week in Brussels.