Japan

Mitsubishi has released a cascaded air source heat pump that can produce between 7.8 kW and 640 kW of heat. It is reportedly able to generate hot water at a temperature of up to 70 C without boost heaters.

Japan-based Marubeni and Sompo Japan have partnered to provide defect warranties for second-life PV modules. Marubeni will verify the traceability and authenticity of information on the panels using blockchain technology.

Luxor Solar has developed a south-oriented system for high snow loads in Japan. It features its own heterojunction solar modules, along with mounting systems from Germany’s Next2Sun and inverters from Japan’s Omron.

Toshiba and Marubeni have revealed plans to build commercial projects based on thermal storage technology using rocks. They have set up a demonstrator with 100 kWh of storage capacity and a relatively high heat storage density.

After almost four years of delays the solar-wind hybrid 60 MW Kennedy Energy Park in the Australian state of Queensland is inching towards full operation after project developer Windlab confirms the final stage of testing and commissioning of the Australian-first hybrid project is underway.

Japanese scientists have described the steps that need to be taken to improve the average efficiency of CIGS solar modules, from around 18.5% at present to more than 20%. They presented all of the critical technical factors that are currently holding the tech back from broader market adoption.

Masdar says Africa’s annual hydrogen exports could hit 40 million tons by 2050, while Israeli researchers have published a new study on the discharge characteristics of oxidized intermediates formed under water photo-oxidation conditions.

The IEC/EN61215 and IEC/EN61730-certified panels are all updated versions of existing products. The manufacturer raised the ouput of each by 5 W.

Japan’s Xsol says its new monocrystalline PV modules offer 275 W of power output and an efficiency rating of 20.3%. They measure 1,760 mm × 768 mm × 30 mm and can be installed in two-panel rows.

Japanese researchers have built an InGap-GaAs-CIGS solar cell that purportedly has the potential to reach an efficiency of 35%. The device has already achieved an efficiency of 31.0%, an open-circuit voltage of 2.97 V, a short-circuit current density of 12.41 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 0.80.