Technology and R&D

Solar microinverters and DC-DC power optimizers are forecast to generate more than USD$1.5 billion in revenues over the next five years, according to IMS Research. It says that shipments of the devices are forecast to grow over 100 percent per year and will total more than 16 million in the same period.

AU Optronics Corp. says it has completed the carbon footprint verification on a multi-crystalline PV module, according to the international carbon footprint standard PAS2050*. EcoDuo PM220P00 is the world’s first PV module to have obtained carbon footprint verification, states the company, thus helping to reach a critical milestone on carbon footprint management of PV key components.

Scientists at the Zentrum fur Sonnenenergie-und Wasserstoff-Forschung Baden-Württemberg, Germany (Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research, ZSW) say they have achieved a new world record for copper, indium, gallium and diselenide (CIGS) solar cell efficiencies. At 20.3 percent, the Stuttgart researchers state that the new results should “significantly” improve the cost-effectiveness of CIGS thin film photovoltaics (PV) over the medium term.

The U.S. is expected to install around 1.9 gigawatts (GW) of photovoltaics (PV) annually by 2014, according to new research, which states that the country’s market is growing at fast pace, thanks to government support and decreasing installation costs.

There is no single solution for meeting energy needs, Professor Vassilios G. Agelidis, director of the University New South Wales’ Center for Energy Research and Policy Analysis (CERPA) tells pv magazine.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is to contribute USD$15 million to Silicon Valley-based Nanosys, Inc. in the U.S. in order to “accelerate the development of commercial applications of nano-architected materials for the electronics and thin film solar”.?? ?

Under the development project ‘Access to Modern Energy Services Ethiopia’, realized by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, SMA Solar Technology AG has said it will deliver 100 battery power inverters to supply medical clinics with solar-generated alternating current (AC) in the country: 50 have already been delivered.

The University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia has announced that construction has started on its new AUD$125 million Tyree Energy Technologies Building (TETB) following planning approval from the New South Wales government. The new facility – scheduled to be completed by 2012 – will house all the energy-related research and teaching groups within the university, including photovoltaics.

In a bid to bring renewable energy, like solar power, to Afghanistan, Lt. Col. Brian Stevens of the Texas Army National Guard is working with the Energy Executives Leadership Program, an initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which sees 20 energy executives gather together once a month for energy education sessions.

TÜV Rheinland AG has opened its seventh laboratory worldwide in the Indian city of Bangalore for testing solar modules and systems. The company has invested €2 million in the new solar test centre, which will, in particular, offer services to India’s growing solar industry. The test centre has 2,000 square meters of space, including an outside test field of 500 square meters, with equipment such as five climate chambers and two sun simulators. This, says the company, makes it the most up to date and largest laboratory in the entire South Asian economic area.