Technology and R&D

A solar powered car, designed by students at the University of New South Wales, has officially become the world’s fastest solar vehicle after reaching speeds of more than 88 km/h.

New research has revealed that shipments of photovoltaic (PV) modules increased by 20 percent in the third quarter of this year, in order to reach 5.4 gigawatts.

Last Friday, Sanyo announced that it had achieved the world’s highest cell conversion efficiency at 21.6 percent. However, responding to questions from pv magazine, the efficiency has not been independently verified and there are no plans for outside testing.

TÜV Rheinland has announced it is carrying out a three-year research project to examine the risk of fire with photovoltaics (PV) systems.

A recent survey has revealed that 80.6 percent of UK farmers are considering installing rooftop photovoltaics (PV) on their farm buildings by 2013. According to the findings, interest has been spurred by the country’s attractive feed-in tariffs (FITs).

A 35 percent increase in light harvesting yield in cells for photovoltaics and solar fuels could be achieved, following a breakthrough in the U.S.

Sanyo Component Europe GmbH has achieved what it says is the world’s highest cell conversion efficiency at 21.6 percent.

The fate of the different thin film photovoltaics (TFPV) technologies has diverged in the last year, according to a new report, which found that while many opportunities exist for the technologies to be developed, growth will be slower than was previously predicted in 2009.

Singapore’s National Solar Repository (NSR) has been launched by the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS), in collaboration with Singapore Polytechnic, at the country’s Solar Pioneer Awards ceremony held yesterday.

China Sunergy Co., Ltd. and Pythagoras Solar have signed an agreement with the aim of capitalizing on the growing building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) market through the use of Pythagoras’ transparent photovoltaic glass units (PVGU).