Technology and R&D

“We’ve averaged 2.4 cents a kilowatt hour for the last six months for PPAs. That’s actually too low. I think we would be fine at 3.4 cents… I don’t think that solar and wind industries would skip a beat [without their tax incentives], and they have other policy mechanisms.”

The ninth edition of the Vendée Globe began on Nov. 8 from the French port of Sables-d’Olonne, for a complete world tour without stopovers or assistance. PV panel maker Solbian equipped several competitors with its flexible products.

Spanish renewable energy company Abengoa will deploy a 3.5 MW solar micro-grid at a vanadium mining site operated by Bushveld Minerals in South Africa. The storage system will be provided by Austria-based storage specialist Enerox Holdings Limited.

Scientists in the United States have tested soda-lime glass radiative coolers in a CPV system and claim these can reduce the device operating temperature by 5 to 36 degrees Celsius. This may result in an increase in the solar cell’s open-circuit voltage of between 8% and 27%.

The new module series is available in five versions with power output ranging from 315 to 330 W and efficiencies of 18.67% to 19.56%. It incorporates Enphase IQ 7+ microinverters with a 96.5% European efficiency and 295 volt-amperes (VA).

A US research team claims to have demonstrated that packing PV modules in close proximity can exponentially increase convective heat transfer of a solar park. The scientists analyzed three different module arrangements and compared them to the common row-organized panel configuration.

Scientists in Saudi Arabia demonstrated a slot-die coating process for production of perovskite solar cells from a specially engineered ‘ink’. Using the process, the group fabricated a perovskite/silicon tandem cell that recorded 23.8% efficiency.

Scientists in Poland have developed a machine-learning method to help solar+storage system owners manage battery charging and discharging, so they can avoid buying power from the grid.

Scientists in the U.S. examined the use of different conductive filler materials in a lithium-ion battery electrode, finding that adding single walled carbon nanotubes to a nickel-cobalt-manganese cathode resulted in better electrical conductivity and higher rate capability for the overall battery. The results, according to the group, could provide new insights into design of high power, high energy battery electrodes.

The second edition of the clean energy investment report produced by IRENA says the industry needs to unlock the $87 trillion being sat on by the world’s biggest investment houses – ‘greening’ the $100 trillion global bond market would help too.