Technology and R&D

Scientists in Finland have developed a new method of assessing the long-term performance of vertical bifacial PV systems in Nordic conditions. The experimental setup consisted of a east-west oriented vertical array equipped with power, temperature, and plane-of-array irradiance sensors, wind speed and global horizontal irradiance sensors, and a weather station.

Belgium’s Innoptus Solar Team was the first car to cross the finish line this week in the 3,000 km Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. The team beat its 2019 winning time by 48 minutes.

Iranian researchers have improved perovskite solar cell efficiency by using a single-walled carbon nanotube as a hole transport layer surrounded by lead sulfide colloidal quantum dots.

A group of scientists across the world have created a list of recommendations that can help create solar neighborhoods. In a recently published study they highlight the importance of legislative frameworks and advanced computing.

A US research group has developed stable emitters for high-temperature applications above 1,800 C, which could improve the efficiency of lab-scale thermophovoltaic systems. The framework showcases the potential to design application-specific metamaterials in high-temperature photonics using optimization and machine learning.

A group of ETH Zurich students are currently competing in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. They are racing a solar car, powered by monocrystalline silicon PV modules, through the Australian outback.

Germany’s Boreal Light says it has installed a desalination plant in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. It claims that the system – which uses 560 W solar modules to produce 125 cubic meters of clean water per hour – is Europe’s largest PV-powered desalination project.

Scientists in Bangladesh designed a cadmium telluride solar cell with upper/top and back contact materials made of aluminum (Al) and nickel (Ni). The device reportedly showed a quantum efficiency of around 100 % at visible wavelengths.

A European group has looked into the soiling impact on PV modules in Oman. They have collected 60 samples, based on season, month and tilt angles.

Land is scarce but water is abundant for the Caribbean’s 700 islands. Solar economy professor Christian Breyer tells pv magazine that the region’s archipelagic makeup is not a drawback but a benefit for renewable energy generation, with the ocean potentially serving as the area’s floating solar PV backbone.