Technology and R&D

The GivePower non-profit founded by Tesla subsidiary SolarCity is supplying solar-powered desalination systems to some of the world’s neediest communities, backed by Tesla’s Powerwall battery technology.

The Japanese electronics company has produced a solid-state, dye-sensitized solar cell for integration into sensors and consumer electronics. The company says the device can generate electricity from indoor light.

The luxury car maker is betting on the timely development of market-ready solid-state batteries. Mercedes will work with the Canadian research institute to quickly integrate new technology into field applications to cut development cycle times.

The ‘deep photovoltaic nowcasting’ project developed by Chile’s Institute of Engineering Sciences of the University of O’Higgins, Canada’s Laval University and Japan’s Kyoto University, seeks to make short-term, high-resolution projections of solar energy generation.

Product development company the Cambridge Design Partnership, working with compatriot solar business Solivus, has developed a curved solar module featuring an organic thin film. The design is based on Solivus’ desire to “create a product so attractive that people would be happy to have one in their garden”.

Japanese researchers have identified a perovskite material with a strong band edge gap and high stability which they say could offer 38.7% efficiency if used in the correct tandem cell architecture.

The South African utility is seeking offers for the supply of 1,383 320 W polycrystalline modules and mounting structures, to be used for the construction of four off-grid PV projects at its research center.

Scientists at Rice University in the U.S. have conducted experiments with lithium-ion batteries using silicon as an anode material and made an unexpected discovery regarding an aluminum oxide passivation layer at the cathode. The finding could open up a new pathway toward better performing lithium-ion batteries.

Australian researchers have unveiled hydrogenation technology to reduce light and elevated temperature-induced degradation in Czochralski silicon PERC solar cells. The developers say the process can minimize degradation without sacrificing performance in cells and modules.

The efficiency of the cell, made with a standard M2 wafer, was raised around 0.7% by using an improved busbar-free screen printing metallization process based on heterojunction processes developed with manufacturing equipment provided by Swiss specialist Meyer Burger.