pv magazine test – September 2023 results
George Touloupas, senior director of technology and quality for Clean Energy Associates (CEA), analyzes the September 2023 energy-yield results from the outdoor testing field in Xi’an, China.
Building bridges between East and West
Italian module manufacturer FuturaSun has big expansion plans in China, with the first phase of a 15 GW silicon cell fab due online in Huai’an in the first quarter of 2024, in addition to 1 GW of module production in Taizhou. Erik Eikelboom, technical adviser to FuturaSun, offers a closer look at the project.
‘I want to come back as a…’
The pace of electric vehicle and renewable energy deployment is picking up. In this transition, granting a second life to electric vehicle (EV) batteries will be a breakthrough point, writes Rita Tedesco, from the Environmental Coalition on Standards.
A moral trilemma
US solar was disrupted in 2022, with module seizures delaying projects due to strict laws designed to stamp out alleged forced labor practices in sections of the Chinese PV industry. However, it remains to be seen whether seizures affected such alleged practices.
The green jobs promise
Promising to replace fossil fuel jobs with an identical number of clean energy roles in coal-dependent communities is overly simplistic and ignores the fact that communities need to be brought onside with credible expectations of better-quality employment, says Raul Alfaro-Pelico, a senior director at the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI).
What does it all mean?
Solar companies are keen to stress their sustainability chops but with measurement metrics varying wildly, forced labor concerns, an “anti-woke” political storm brewing in the US, and doubts about what environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) standards even mean, working out the green credentials of companies can be a minefield, says Tristan Rayner.
KAUST joins the 30% club
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) set a world record in April with a perovskite-silicon tandem cell efficiency of 33.2%, making it the third entity to push the technology past 30%. Stefaan De Wolf, KAUST Professor of Material Science and Engineering, speaks to pv magazine about the achievement and the latest advances in tandem cell tech.
Mapping a path to tandem commercialization
Chris Case, chief technology officer for Oxford PV, recently spoke with pv magazine about the company’s new 28.6%-efficient, commercial-sized, tandem solar cell, its US subsidiary, and plans for the future.
The dawn of perovskites in China
Chinese PV giant Longi announced a 33.5%-efficient perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell on a commercial-grade CZ (Czochralski-method) wafer in June, certified by the European Solar Test Installation. Vincent Shaw takes a look at China’s pursuit of perovskites.
Rocky road for critical minerals
Energy security has remained a burning issue in Europe since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While some analysts fear that plans to scale back coal-fired and nuclear generation capacity will weaken the European economy, others believe that the energy transition is a chance to redesign energy rules, technology, and values.
