Technology and R&D

The new inverter was developed in the HV-SiC project under the Future Electricity Grids funding program financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The inverter can regulate power currents of up to 10-15 kV more than ten times higher than regular silicon inverters. Fraunhofer says this makes new system architectures for power grids and plants conceivable.

Cheap-to-produce OPV are the focus of research and although the struggle to get beyond 13% efficiency has hindered commercialization, organic PV can be made translucent, making it potentially ideal for applications such as PV-generating windows.

Toshiba has begun a large power-to-gas demonstration project in Japan. In spite of low efficiency and high prices, hydrogen is researched by many companies. In this demo, facilities are powered by Toshiba’s fuel cells, which receive hydrogen from an adjacent hydropower hydrogen generation facility.

At the end of the week the production line of the insolvent German PV manufacturer will be closed down. Its insolvency administrator wants to continue paying salaries until the end of September, as he sees good prospects for the acquisition of Solarworld’s cell production facilities.

Panasonic has been improving the cost and durability of heterojunction cells for years. Meyer Burger’s smartwire connections could replace three-busbar technology and drive further advances

The CEOG scheme consists of a 55 MW solar park and 140 MWh storage station based on hydrogen which, according to the project developer, enables the storage of large amounts of energy for long periods

Belgian research institute imec announced that it has developed a screen printing process for n-PERT solar cells. In collaboration with Chinese module manufacturer Jolywood, the institute announced that it has used the process to develop bifacial cells with average frontside efficiency of 21.9%.

British oil giant BP has announced a $20 million investment into battery developer Storedot, whose batteries use chemically synthesized organic molecules to build an organic polymer, in addition to lithium. Storedot says the astonishing properties of the new material enable electric vehicle charging times of just five minutes

Longi Solar has achieved an efficiency record of 20.66% for the front side of its 60-cell bifacial shingled module. The milestone was confirmed by the China General Certification Center

In an open letter, more than 30 German PV companies and research institutes demand an industrial strategy to retain a domestic solar industry. According to the signatories, that means increased co-operation with France and the consideration of sustainability criteria for PV tenders