Technology and R&D

Korea-based Hanwha Solar has opened a new R&D center in Santa Clara, California. The goal is to develop next generation photovoltaic concepts, with a focus on efficiency and low cost.

The third annual PV Power Plants conference in Vienna continued today with questions being raised about the hidden cost of falling module prices. Specifically, it was asked what kind of R&D will be able to be undertaken by photovoltaic module manufacturers in a price war?

At the EcoBuild trade show, opening its doors tomorrow in London, one display will demonstrate a unique aerial mapping technology and method for calculating the energy potential of roofs. Bluesky, the company behind the technology, says that it has mapped 500,000 roofs in the country.

Natcore Technology Inc. and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have entered into a one year $150,000 cooperative research and development agreement. They have identified two goals.

A new U.S. entrant to the silicon-cell machinery market, Twin Creeks Technologies, today released a wafer production system that it claims can produce solar cells for less than US$0.40 per Watt (/W).

CIGS thin film photovoltaic module developer, MiaSole has secured US$ 55 million in funding. The company says it will “aggressively” build the commercial part of its business.

Natcore Technology Inc. has opened its new solar research and development center today in Kodak’s Eastman business park in Rochester, the U.S. Flexible solar cells will be a key focus.

Australian dye-sensitized photovoltaics developer Dyesol, which is developing Dye Solar Cell (DSC) applications, has taken steps to sure up its share price. At the same time, the “father” of DSC has been awarded the 2012 Albert Einstein World Award of Science.

In what it claims is a world record, Japanese CIGS manufacturer Solar Frontier today announced that it has achieved an aperture are efficiency of 17.8 percent, on a 30cm by 30cm submodule. The record was achieved at the company’s Atsugi Research Center.

A new report looking at the building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) glass market predicts that its market value will rise by at least 400 percent over the next five years. It also highlights the firms to watch and explains why Suntech could transform the market.