Technology and R&D

SolarPower Europe has published guidelines for floating solar to offer an overview of the European market and the global landscape, with practical advice for project developers.

Power Panel has developed a portable PV device to support humanitarian needs and off-grid living.

In its latest monthly column for pv magazine, the European Technology and Innovation Platform for Photovoltaics (ETIP PV) presents its levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) calculations for several European locations in period between 2023 and 2050. The organization forecasts that solar LCOE in Europe may fall by up to 50% by 2050.

Enphase has released 208 V three-phase inverters for the small commercial market. The advancing hardware comes with a specialized support team and tailored design tools.

Denmark-based slot-die coating equipment manufacturer FOM Technologies raised DKK 43.60 million ($6.3 million) to finance the next stage of growth, which includes expansion of sales in the United States.

Canadian Solar says its new SolBank 3.0 grid-scale battery supports up to 2.35 MW/5 MWh of grid-scale renewable energy storage and dispatch.

Terravis Energy said its heat pump prototype uses difluoromethane (R32) as the refrigerant and has a seasonal coefficient of performance (SCOP) of approximately 3.0 under Ontario’s environmental conditions.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has looked at the frequency and duration of “energy droughts” across the United States, as solar and wind are intermittent energy sources.

The researchers said that an increment in heating demand due to the use of heat pumps can be accurately predicted based on heating hours, local climate, heat loss and thermal mass. They also recommended including heat loss and thermal mass parameters in buildings’ energy performance certificates, so households can make more informed decisions before changing their system.

Dutch solar PV manufacturer Solarge is deploying a novel lightweight rooftop solution across several commercial buildings in the Netherlands. Instead of glass, the special modules developed by the company use strong and light polymers, which the company said result in a module weight per square meter of 5.5 kg.