Leclanché restructure delayed
Eneris Group has suspended its financial commitments for the time being and Leclanche shareholder Fefam has provided a bridge loan of CHF34 million to give the historic company more time to set up a joint venture for large scale battery cell production in Europe.
How long will the lithium supply last?
Researchers have sounded the alarm. If no serious efforts are made on second-life battery use, recycling and vehicle-to-grid applications, decarbonization efforts may hit the buffers a lot sooner than expected.
RENA picks up 15 GW equipment order
Germany based PV equipment supplier RENA Technologies has received what it describes as its ‘biggest ever order’, from a tier 1 manufacturer in Asia, for 15 GW of its wafer texturing equipment. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed, although the company states that the order is worth “tens of millions of euros.”
Covid-19 weekly round-up: Australian states target green recovery as France devotes €30bn to energy transition
Clean energy power plants will figure prominently as Queensland and Victoria bid to reset their economies for a post-coronavirus world. France suffered a hit to its new solar deployment figures in the first half of a Covid-hit year but its neighbor appears to have no such concerns.
Intense pulsed light processing for 23.0%-efficient silicon heterojunction solar cells
Scientists at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) have used intense pulsed light (IPL) processing for the development of a busbarless silicon heterojunction solar cell. ILP processing is roll-to-roll technique for rapid thermal processing of various thin films.
Modular systems to produce perovskite-silicon cells on six-inch wafers
Researchers in Germany are scaling up efforts to bring perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell technology into industrial scale production. The scientists say manufacturing cells of that kind is possible on widely-available six-inch silicon wafers and modular systems are being designed to do so at scale.
Hydrogen to go
German company Wystrach has developed a 350-bar hydrogen refueling station for heavy duty vehicles which can be installed anywhere.
Perovskites in space
Scientists led by the Technical University of Munich have packed a variety of perovskite and organic solar cells onto a rocket, and sent it into orbit 240 kilometers above the planet’s surface. Their results demonstrate strong potential for such technologies to power satellites and even deep space missions.
Floating PV powering sieving machines, suction excavators at German quarry
Rheinland Solar has built a 750 kW floating solar plant to power several sieving machines and suction excavators at a quarry in Germany. On weekends, the excess electricity is sold to the grid at market prices.
IB Vogt secures $135 million from EIG Global Energy Partners
The German developer will use the funds to finance its 16 GW global solar pipeline.
