Technology and R&D

Brazilian scientists have investigated the potential of agrivoltaics on sugarcane fields and have found this combination may provide benefits in terms of both agricultural and electricity yield. Their results showed that under certain conditions the sugarcane yield below the panels can be higher than that of plots without PV.

The Belgium-based company announced that its panorama-style solar roof for passenger cars is ready for mass production. The glass-glass design features high-efficiency back contact solar cells and a uniform full black appearance.

Is the solar industry’s focus on cutting costs undermining module reliability, safety and lifecycle economics?

An international researc team has included an interlocked self-assembled monolayer in perovskite indoor PV to enhance its stability and durability. Fabricating cells, mini modules, and a prototype device of an electronic price tag, the novel structure was tested. It was found to exhibit a lifetime approaching 6,000 hours.

Researchers from Trina Solar and China’s Nanchang University claim to have verified that back-contact solar modules outperform TOPCon modules only when fewer than three cells in a substring are shaded. Their findings were published in a peer-reviewed scientific paper.

The team produced a 16.53% inverted 1.08 cm2 perovskite solar cell using atomic layer deposition to apply a buffering layer of tin oxide to prevent electrode sputtering damage.

Researchers at the University of Münster have developed a mechanical recycling process for production scrap from the dry processing of lithium-ion batteries. The method operates without solvents, preserves material properties, and allows the recycled cathode powder to be directly reused in electrode manufacturing.

Chinese manufacturer Huasun and Italian developer New Time plan to jointly develop a 1 GW heterojunction–perovskite tandem solar line in northern Italy by the third quarter of 2026, with public support and a focus on building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) applications.

A Danish research group is working on an automated material discovery and performance optimization platform for perovskite solar cells. The scientists claim a unique combination of robotics, advanced measurement equipment, and machine learning.

Researchers in Egypt have developed new control strategies for managing frequency fluctuations during deloading of a photovoltaic plant. The proposed methodology combines a proportional–integral controller along with a rate of change of frequency controller.