Technology and R&D

The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory has developed a process which it says can dramatically reduce the costs of producing ultra-high efficiency cells from gallium arsenide, and other III-V compounds, similar to the solar cells used by NASA in space exploration projects.

A team of researchers from the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin and University of Potsdam has been able to observe defects in a perovskite solar cell, and found that the largest efficiency losses occur at the interface between the perovskite and transport layer.

A group of Russian researchers has found out that under resonance conditions, the Pyramid of Giza can concentrate electromagnetic energy in its internal chambers. This discovery, the scientists claim, may also be used to develop high efficient solar cells.

An international team of scientists working with polymer-fullerene solar cells has developed a process of fluorination, which demonstrated a significant boost in cell efficiency. According to Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, the discovery could assist the development of new thin film solar materials.

The International Energy Agency’s latest study of global energy investment paints another rosy picture for solar – even as the authors warn of missed sustainable growth targets – but the report covers last year, and notes China’s policy about-turn could blow a cold wind through PV.

Following the claim filed in June, SolarEdge now alleges Huawei has infringed two more of its patents. With its HD-wave inverter topology the subject of the first lawsuit, the Israeli manufacturer now says its Chinese rival also copied its power optimizer technology.

Two months after announcing its intention to turn to renewables, the Spanish oil giant has for the first time formed a technological tie-up that integrates a partner into the company’s value chain.

A team of researchers from the University of Exeter has demonstrated a technique which creates ‘charge funnels’ within certain semiconductor materials. The researchers state that the technique could eventually lead to the development of PV cells with better than 60% efficiency.

Oil and gas company Total has announced it will work alongside Shanghai-based NIO – the world’s inaugural Formula E champion – to develop products for a potentially huge electric vehicle marketplace in the populous Asian nation.

Belgian research institute, Imec has announced the achievement of 27.1% efficiency on a perovskite/silicon tandem cell, providing further evidence of the technology’s potential to provide a low cost efficiency boost to existing PV technology.