Technology and R&D

The technology group from China is now presenting its Luna2000 photovoltaic storage system on a roadshow across Germany. It will start sales with a number of partners later this year in several European countries.

Only one of the 28 hybrid renewable energy plants allocated in the oversubscribed exercise did not feature solar, and PV took all the awards in the single-technology section of the procurement round.

A Spanish-Dutch research group has created nomograms for PV system sizing that not only offer a standard calculation tool but also provide additional information about what-if scenarios with higher-level knowledge about price of modifications and limitations of project sites.

Doubling down on renewable energy investment and energy transition spending is required to ensure a truly green global recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and its economic aftershock, claims the International Renewable Energy Agency.

A new building at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) is being covered with facade CGIS solar panels provided by German manufacturer Avancis. A research team will analyze their performance and special features, including new sensors for incident radiation and heat.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur have developed 12×12 cm2 sub-modules from organic solar PV cells on a paper substrate that could be used to power flexible electronic devices under an indoor lighting environment. The modules are said to deliver a power density of up to 12 µW/cm2 under illumination from a 1000-lux cool‐white LED.

Researchers in South Korea have analyzed the effects of alkali doping on the fill factor of kesterite solar cells and have built a device on a flexible metal foil optimized with a sodium fluoride doping layer.

Highline Technology GmbH has a production process in which metal contacts are applied without touching the front of solar cells, reportedly saving resources and raising efficiency.

The Spanish renewables company is offering up two of its solar and wind power sites in Spain for the testing of energy storage systems. The call for companies to take part is open until the end of next month.

According to a new study from Japan, the global installed PV capacity in solar-powered EVs may reach up to 50 GW by 2030. Its authors claim that solar cells with efficiencies higher than 30%, including multijunction III-V cells and III-V cells combined with silicon cells, are the best candidates for applications in the automotive sector due to the limited space of electric car rooftops. However, a series of technical and economic challenges must still be addressed.