Technology and R&D

Australian and Chinese researchers have developed a novel catalyst for the production of green hydrogen from seawater via solar.

The SunPower solar monitoring app draws inspiration for its user interface from unlikely non-energy sources such as Spider-Man.

An international research team has presented challenges and knowledge gaps in the implementation of large scale underground storage of hydrogen. The main issues associated with this technology relate to the fluid flow behavior of hydrogen in subsurface reservoirs, geochemical reactions caused by hydrogen injection, biotic reactions caused by excess hydrogen, and the geomechanical response of the subsurface to hydrogen storage.

The system generates electricity and heat for residential houses and small businesses. An integrated energy management system should guarantee maximum self-consumption of the solar power produced.

An international research team has developed a cleaning system for solar panels that combines a vibrating device with the use of hydrophilic curved rungs. The technique is claimed to be able to remove the surface contaminants through the internal flow of vibrating water droplets applied with a pipette onto the module surface and transported, under vibration, to the contaminated parts.

An international research team has used, for the first time, a powerful metaheuristic and a nature-inspired algorithm to improve the estimation of the parameters of PV cells and modules. The algorithm imitates the natural phenomenon of growth and uses the diffusion process, based on random fractals.

The Israel Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Agriculture have decided to implement a pilot research program to assess the feasibility of agrivoltaic projects in the country. The possibility of combining PV and agriculture in a land with limited land availability and increasing energy demand is considered a win-win solution by the government.

The Japanese brand will continue to sell third-party-made modules under its brand in its home market, as it already does overseas, but in-house PV wafer, cell and module production will halt by the end of fiscal year 2022.

Europium ions have been used by Chinese researchers to passivate both the perovskite and electron transport layer (ETL) films of a MAPbI3 perovskite solar cell. As a result, the device’s efficiency was raised by approximately 1.5%. The dual passivation approach also achieved an increase in the cell’s fill factor and open-circuit voltage.

Tests by 7X Energy show that ground cover material showed promise, but projects will likely still need to prove the long-term durability, degradation rates, and validation of installation labor and O&M.