Technology and R&D

A 19.8 kW PV system is powering a telecommunications antenna at a French air control center. When it produces more energy than needed, the surplus is used to produce hydrogen which is then utilized to produce new electricity via a fuel cell system and provide power to the antenna during a period of up to five days. For short-term storage, lithium-ion batteries are used.

An Indian research group has built a perovskite cell that has a metal contact based on copper, instead of expensive gold. The device showed almost the same efficiency as a cell developed with gold metallization but its stability was much lower. In order to overcome this issue, the scientists suggest using a metal contact made of a thin layer of gold and a thicker, overlying copper layer.

Adani, Reliance New Energy, Jindal India Solar and Shirdi Sai Electricals have been put on a shortlist for India’s production-linked incentive scheme for high-efficiency PV module manufacturing. The list includes 14 other companies vying for the incentives.

The 1.21 MW/8.61 MWh storage facility is the second battery deployed at the 5 GW solar park. The system allows bi-directional charging.

The two three-phase inverters feature two maximum power point trackers and have input voltages ranging between 200 and 1,000 V DC. The smallest device has an efficiency of 98.3% and the largest 98.5%.

The battery is available in three versions, with storage capacities of 3 kWh, 5 kWh and 7 kWh with all devices featuring a nominal voltage of 51.2 V and a maximum charging voltage of 56.8 V.

A new paper from the University of New South Wales underscores the urgent global need for tens of terawatts of PV to replace fossil fuels by 2050. The researchers say it’s time to focus on the most sustainable technologies, before reserves of silver, indium and bismuth dry up.

Architects and construction companies are being offered an ever-growing array of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) products, with their needs for safety, speed of construction, and aesthetics in mind. But can it drag BIPV beyond niche status?

Elsewhere, the German government wants to allow the testing of hydrogen production from offshore electricity, while a French consortium intends to promote the use of hydrogen at airports and build a European airport network to accommodate future hydrogen aircraft. Furthermore, the Port of Rotterdam is increasing its efforts to become a hydrogen hub.

Scientists led by Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fedérale de Lausanne (EPFL) demonstrated a simple approach to designing the interface between two layers in a perovskite solar cell, which was shown to improve both the performance and stability of the device. Solar cells fabricated by the group achieved 23.4% conversion efficiency, and were operated for close to 6,000 hours before degrading beyond 80% of this initial value.