Solar and wind together overhaul global hydro capacity
The latest set of clean energy statistics compiled by the International Renewable Energy Agency signal a changing of the guard when it comes to clean power, with legacy hydropower facilities overtaken by new intermittent renewables.
Trina became world’s third biggest panel supplier in 2020
The Chinese giant overhauled JA Solar by moving almost 16 GW worth of modules, with the 600 W-plus, 210mm-wafer-based Vertex range it launched last year having already sold 10 GW of units.
Multi-layer front contact perovskite solar cells with 16.55% efficiency
Japanese scientists have used spray pyrolysis deposition to fabricate perovskite solar cells based on a titanium oxide electron transport layer. They claim that the cells have the potential to reach a power conversion efficiency rating of more than 30%.
African green hydrogen could feed German and Japanese industry and water drought-stricken nations
Trade bodies the Africa Solar Industry Association and the African Hydrogen Partnership hosted a two-day virtual conference to discuss the role green hydrogen can play in economic growth across the continent–and how it could drive desalination in freshwater-starved coastal countries.
‘Falling solar module costs are behind us’
Canadian Solar is pivoting towards energy storage and is preparing to IPO its manufacturing and Chinese solar project activity in China, under the CSI Solar operation, by July.
Household solar holds key to climate-neutral Japan
Rooftops will have to supply a third of the 524 GW of solar generation capacity needed by 2045 to reach a zero-carbon economy by mid century, according to an academic paper. The researchers also suggested green hydrogen should not play a central role in the nation’s energy transition.
New deals in Australia’s growing redox flow battery sector
Redflow has agreed to supply biowaste specialist Anaergia with a 2 MWh energy storage system, while Perth-based Technology Metals has signed a deal with Japan’s LE System to potentially make vanadium electrolyte in Australia.
Japanese researchers build tin(II) sulfide solar cell with high open-circuit voltage
The single-junction cell has a conversion efficiency of only 1.4%, but its creators claim it may easily reach between 4 and 5%, when properly optimized. The device also showed a remarkable open-circuit voltage of 360 mV, which the scientists described as the highest VOC value ever reached for SnS‐based heterojunction solar cells.
Sharp develops 445 W half-cut panels for large scale PV
The new panel is manufactured with M6 wafers. It features a power conversion efficiency of 20.1% and a temperature coefficient of -0.347% per degree Celsius.
Sumitomo Mitsui Construction deploys in-house floating PV tech
Sumitomo Mitsui Construction has used its PuKaTTo proprietary tech for a 2 MW floating PV project in Japan’s Kagawa prefecture. It said its durable, easily deployable floats can host 60-cell and 72-cell solar modules.
