Sodium-ion battery cell cost could drop to $40/kWh, says IRENA
A report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) notes that while it is still uncertain whether sodium-ion batteries will become a disruptive alternative to lithium-ion technology, they could offer significant cost-saving opportunities in applications such as electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage.
Japan pilots low-weight solar panels, perovskite windows for buildings
Mitsui Home and Tokyo Gas have revealed plans to deploy Japan’s first combined on-site and virtual solar power purchase agreement (PPA), cutting factory emissions and maximizing rooftop energy use.
Huasun unveils 770 W, 2,000 V heterojunction solar module
The Chinese manufacturer said the higher-voltage design of the new module reduces cable, combiner, pile-foundation, and land-use requirements, delivering balance-of-system savings of up to CNY 0.15 ($0.012)/W in western China. The module offers a power output of 730 W to 770 W and a conversion efficiency of up to 24.8%.
Highly transparent perovskite solar cell achieves 18.22% efficiency
A research team in India has investigated the use of highly conductive transparent electrodes based on amorphous indium zinc made with a room temperature process in perovskite solar cells. The devices could be used in tandem and building-integrated PV applications.
Sungrow unveils new modular C&I battery with long-duration storage capability
The new 12.5 kWh pack-based design supports flexible configuration up to 250 kWh per system. An optional long-duration combiner box supports 2–4 clusters, expandable to 1,000 kWh and 8 hours of storage.
JinkoSolar achieves world record efficiency of 27.79% for TOPCon solar cell
The Chinese manufacturer says Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin (ISFH) has independently verified the result.
New research sheds light on passivation-related defects in heterojunction solar cells
Korean researchers revealed that efficiency losses in heterojunction solar cells arise from two coexisting defect types – dangling bonds and weak silicon-silicon bonds. Their findings explain how hydrogenated amorphous silicon passivation help mitigate these defects and improve cell performance.
Spanish researchers developing rear-side concentrated PV modules for agrivoltaics
Researchers at University of Jaén in Spain have demonstrated a semi-transparent crystalline silicon solar photovoltaic module with rear-side optical concentrators for agrivoltaics applications.
German developer commissions nation’s largest solar carport
Germany has brought a 17 MW photovoltaic carport online in Riedstadt, Hesse, spanning 76,000 square meters. It is expected to generate about 17 GWh per year, according to project developer Nawasol.
European solar manufacturing ‘considerably behind’ NZIA targets, says EU observatory
A report from the Clean Energy Technology Observatory finds that while the EU is a technology leader in PV inverters, trackers and mounting structures, its manufacturing capacity in solar ingots, wafers, cells and modules falls far behind targets set by the Net Zero Industry Act.
