Technology and R&D

Saudi developer ACWA Power has announced One Belt, One Road Chinese infrastructure partner Shanghai Electric will offer engineering, procurement and construction services on the next phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar field in Dubai.

Spanish renewables company Acciona has commissioned Spain’s first floating installation and utility EDP has finalized the first, 1 MW phase of a 4 MW project at the Alqueva water reservoir in southern Portugal.

A French-Italian research group has shown that BIPV facades on buildings can cause a ‘darkening’ effect by reducing light reflectance on nearby installations, dragging down energy production by 11%. The ‘urban heat island effect’ can also weigh on PV system performance, the researchers said.

U.S. scientists have developed a model to predict the performance of bifacial PV at project level. Their results show that when improved temperature sensitivity is properly taken into account, the advantage of bifacial modules could be even larger than previously thought. And for upcoming module technologies like heterojunction in particular, it could mean bifacial is viable in even more parts of the globe.

Amber Solutions has developed a solid-state AC/DC enabler, as well as an AC switch, with the aim of “disrupting the global electrical and powered products industries.” It claims the new tech provides greater reliability and control than ever before.

The German companies are developing an intelligent energy solution for heating, hot water, energy management and solar power generation in a single coordinated system.

Scientists in China have fabricated a dual-ion battery with a lithium titanate anode and graphite cathode. Their research focuses on some of the difficulties arising from the material’s low specific capacity and their device exhibits leading performance for a lithium titanate battery.

An international research team has measured the reduction of air pollution due to the Covid-19 shutdown and its impact on solar radiation levels. They found that solar radiation in Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities, was around 8.3% higher in late March, when the Indian government implemented lockdown measures.

Scientists in Australia and the United States have managed to ‘upconvert’ light from below the silicon bandgap into high-energy light that can be captured by silicon solar cells.

Researchers in France have tried to predict the competitiveness of tandem PV modules against commercial crystalline products in 2030. Crystalline products will be 22-24% efficient in a decade, according to the researchers, possibly 25% if interdigitated back-contact heterojunction versions become mainstream. To compete, tandem devices will need to offer similar life spans and degradation rates, plus efficiencies of 30%.