Technology and R&D

An international team of researchers used a novel interfacial treatment to improve the performance of perovskite solar cells across a range of narrow and wide bandgap single junction, tandem, and mini-module samples. An all-perovskite tandem solar cell demonstrated its use with a certified efficiency of 29.5%.

Qcells says its new EcoRecycle facility in the US state of Georgia will remove aluminum, glass, silver and copper from used solar modules and process them for re-use.

Researchers in Saudi Arabia have developed a hydrogel composite that absorbs moisture in solar modules overnight and facilitates evaporative cooling throughout daylight hours. The system has undergone lab tests and outdoor experiments on two continents.

Researchers in Germany have modeled dozens of indirect-expansion solar-assisted heat pump systems using photovoltaic-thermal panels for single-family homes in Munich, Berlin, and Hamburg. Simulations accounted for local weather, electricity use, and thermal demand.

Chinese scientists hit 24.6% efficiency with a two-terminal perovskite-CIGS tandem cell by adding D-homoserine lactone hydrochloride (D-HLH) to the perovskite precursor, marking one of the highest reported performances for the technology.

Scientists in India have designed a new soiling chamber that is capable of emulating the soiling conditions of a given geographical location in a shorter time frame, hosting larger panels compared to conventional setups. The new chamber can be used to estimate soiling losses and cleaning costs for potential solar power plant sites, to improve existing soiling models, to investigate how factors like tilt angle affect soiling, and to evaluate the effectiveness and durability of anti-soiling coatings.

Austria’s Aerocompact says its new PV mounting system can be installed on foil, bitumen, gravel, and concrete rooftops. It can reportedly withstand wind loads of up to 1.7 kN/m2 and snow loads of up to 3.5 kN/m2.

Scientists in China have introduced developments to the RIME optimization method, which takes inspiration from the developmental course of hoarfrost in nature. They have compared it to other MPPT algorithms and found it to be faster and to improve power output.

Immersion-cooled batteries submerge cells in a special liquid as a fire-protection measure, as XYZ executive Zha Qing explained to pv magazine at May’s Intersolar Europe trade show.

The UK-based heating solutions provider has developed a pre-engineered and ready-to-install unit compatible with most of the residential heat pumps available in the market. It can be placed underneath a standard hot water cylinder and transfer heat from the pump via a plate exchanger to the central heating indirectly.