Electrical fault at PV plant triggers forest fire in Spain
A forest fire in southern Spain that burned roughly 800 hectares of pasture, crops, and oak forests originated in an electrical box of a photovoltaic plant’s tracking system, according to the Civil Guard’s Nature Protection Service (SEPRONA).
Confused about PV connectors? Words matter
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Sandia National Labs have created a new nomenclature for PV connectors to reduce confusion amongst installers and developers, while improving deployment practices. They catalogued a sampling of twenty-five commercially available 4 mm connectors.
Trinabot offers installation robots for large PV projects
The China-based technology and solar infrastructure company has launched Buildex, a line of solar panel installation robots. A built-in forklift, a robotic arm and advanced automation software support its ability to carry, pick and place panels in a variety of terrains.
Germany offers best European policy for agrivoltaics, claim researchers
Scientists in Canada studied romaine lettuce growth under cadmium telluride thin-film solar modules with varying transparency and photosynthetically active radiation, and found Germany’s regulatory framework most effective for maximizing agrivoltaic benefits.
CTC launches ‘high-capacity’ air-to-water heat pump
CTC-UK, a unit of Sweden’s CTC, has introduced the EcoAir 720M air-to-water heat pump for residential and commercial sites, with cooling capacity up to 22.7 kW and a seasonal coefficient of performance ranging from 3.41 to 6.35.
Improving PV cleaning schedules without large datasets
Scientists in Algeria have developed a low-cost solution to optimize cleaning operations for all PV systems. The proposed approach works “effectively” without heavy data requirements, according to its creators.
Solaires Entreprises ships indoor perovskite PV modules to first customer
Solaires Entreprises, a Canadian perovskite startup, has begun supplying indoor PV modules for integration into sensor devices, marking its first commercial shipment.
GoodWe launches 125 kW/261 kWh all-in-one C&I battery
GoodWe has introduced a 125 kW/261 kWh all-in-one battery for commercial and industrial use in China, with applications spanning factories, farms, EV charging stations, commercial sites, and grid or off-grid systems.
Sumitomo Heavy unveils reactive plasma tech for thin-film perovskite PV
Sumitomo Heavy Industries (SHI) has developed a new reactive plasma deposition (RPD) method to form ultra-thin tin oxide electron transport layers (ETL) for perovskite solar cells. It claims this enables low-temperature mass production with minimal substrate damage.
New approach to measure perovskite-silicon tandem PV module performance via LED-based solar simulators
The Fraunhofer ISE has defined new technical procedures to test the performance of large-area perovskite-silicon tandem PV modules by using the spectral variability of the LED solar simulator. The proposed approach reportedly reduces device handling, time, and consequently financial effort.
