Technology and R&D

Jolywood is one of the few PV manufacturers, who has placed its bet on TOPCon technology. Instead of focusing on the simplicity of the production process, Jolywood believes the conversion rate is more critical. With years of efforts, the company has established its leading position among TOPCon players. During the SNEC 2020 in Shanghai, pv magazine had the opportunity to interview Liu Zhifeng, Vice General Manager of Jolywood, and listened to his views on some hot topics, especially the cell tech route.

Researchers in Taiwan have developed an organic PV module with an active area of 216 sq cm. The panel is said to have open circuit voltage of 10.6 V and short circuit current of 1.82 mA. It also features the highest efficiency reported for a panel of its kind which has an active area of more than 100cm2

Brazil now has 12  GW of underperforming hydropower capacity, according to U.S. researchers. Large-scale floating PV is an ideal solution to offset this shortfall, due to its high capacity factor, load correlation, and high potential output during periods of high demand.

Researchers in Germany are scaling up efforts to bring perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell technology into industrial scale production. The scientists say manufacturing cells of that kind is possible on widely-available six-inch silicon wafers and modular systems are being designed to do so at scale.

German company Wystrach has developed a 350-bar hydrogen refueling station for heavy duty vehicles which can be installed anywhere.

At Australia’s University of Newcastle hydrogen production starts with water extracted from the atmosphere and electrolysis powered by free energy from the sun; sucking CO2 from the air is the next step to filling Angus Taylor’s beloved gas infrastructure with green methane that can bring spuds to the boil and power the economy while helping to flatten the nation’s emissions curve.

The annual EU PVSEC conference got under way virtually this morning via an online platform since the planned event in Lisbon could not go ahead due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Opening presentations revealed an air of optimism in the PV industry, amid expectations of a rapidly rising share in the energy mix, growing conversion efficiencies, advancing technology pathways and innovative solutions to the problem of integrating high levels of PV into electricity grids.

Chinese researchers have discovered a new hydrothermal method for the direct deposition of antimony sulfide-selenide films. They used ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid to regulate the reaction system, giving the film a flat, compact surface morphology. It has an efficiency of 10.5%, an open-circuit voltage of 664 mV, a short-circuit current of 23.8 mA cm−2, and a fill factor of 66.3%.

Scientists led by the Technical University of Munich have packed a variety of perovskite and organic solar cells onto a rocket, and sent it into orbit 240 kilometers above the planet’s surface. Their results demonstrate strong potential for such technologies to power satellites and even deep space missions.

Rheinland Solar has built a 750 kW floating solar plant to power several sieving machines and suction excavators at a quarry in Germany. On weekends, the excess electricity is sold to the grid at market prices.