Iberdrola using dogs, robots to monitor solar plants
Iberdrola is using a springer spaniel in a solar park to smell electrical problems that could lead to power cuts. It is also using a robotic dog to detect and analyze faults in substations.
Paving the way for lead-free perovskite solar cells
Researchers in Singapore have developed a perovskite solar cell via a new method to synthesize the capping without using lead. The cell is capped with a zinc-based compound and reportedly has a conversion efficiency of 24.1%.
Solar grazing methods a centerpiece of inaugural agrivoltaics conference
Dan French, executive producer of the Solar Farm Summit, told pv magazine USA that more than 500 farmers, manufacturers, and community solar developers likely attended the first US agrivoltaics conference in Chicago last week.
Weekend Read: As simple as IBC
The search for ever higher conversion efficiency has driven solar researchers to focus on back-contact cell approaches, and efforts to devise more cost-effective manufacturing are bringing technologies such as interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar into the mainstream, as Mark Hutchins reports.
The Hydrogen Stream: Europe to launch hydrogen auctions
The European Commission says it will set up the new European Hydrogen Bank by the end of this year, with additional plans to hand out 10-year contracts in a new hydrogen auction. Linde Engineering, meanwhile, is teaming up with several other companies to test solid oxide electrolyzer cells (SOEC) and ammonia cracking technology.
Field data on heat pump efficiency, cold climate performance
Energy Systems Catapult has released interim data from air-source heat pump field monitoring in the United Kingdom between November 2020 and August 2022. Figures show that heat pumps are three times more efficient than gas boilers and that their median coefficient of performance (COP) on cold days is 2.44, compared to 2.80 year round.
Hounen to build 1 GW solar module factory in US
China-based module manufacturer Huonen Solar said it wants to build a panel manufacturing facility in Orangeburg, South Carolina. The factory will produce modules for the US market.
Around 800 Sungrow batteries affected by outage in Germany
After 800 Sungrow batteries were impacted by an outage, the Chinese manufacturer informed its local German partners about the solution to the problem. However, it remains unclear how quickly the affected battery management systems can be replaced.
Light redirecting film to improve heterojunction solar module performance
Finnish technology company Intelligent Control Systems has conceived a light redirecting film that purportedly reduces energy losses in the edge area of heterojunction solar cells. It claims the film may increase the power conversion efficiency of a heterojunction module by up to 0.75%.
Kesterite solar cell with transparent electrode achieves 11.4% efficiency
Chinese researchers fabricated a kesterite PV device using a transparent fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate instead of substrates based on opaque Mo-coated soda lime glass. The cell has an open-circuit voltage of 0.522 V, a short-circuit current of 33.0 mA cm−2, and a fill factor of 68.55%.
