South Korea

In the third quarter of this year, around 677 MW of new PV systems were connected to the Korean grid, which is comparatively lower than in the same quarter a year earlier. According to local analysts, the market contraction is due to delayed permitting because of expanding siting restrictions.

The one-stop marketplace platform will be launched in the US market next year. It will help homeowners find the best combination of products depending on their consumption profile.

The investment made by the South Korean group should help REC Silicon restart polysilicon production at its US factory in Moses Lake in 2023.

South Korean researchers have developed a process to produce ultra-thin wafers without sacrificing any of the substrates. Their technique is based on a new approach involving the use of plasma-assisted epitaxial growth, in order to increase internal defects and porosity, rather than reduce them.

The European Commission has published its second annual assessment of the competitiveness of the EU’s renewable energy technology industries, and it had a warning for policymakers about the trade balance trend being experienced by heat pump makers.

Scientists in Korea evaluated recent progress in the development of low cost, large scale processes for the production of perovskite solar cells on flexible substrates, finding that several challenges remain. The group recommends that research should focus on developing novel processes and materials for perovskite solar cell production, rather than adapting those already in use elsewhere.

High polysilicon prices helped South Korean supplier OCI to achieve strong results in the third quarter. Tight supply and demand conditions will likely continue until the first half of 2022, the company said.

The continuous rise in solar panel prices may affect PV projects of up to 1 MW tendered by the Korea Energy Agency and the domestic solar module industry may not be able to provide the necessary production capacity to respond to the recent supply bottleneck.

The latest edition of a clean power jobs survey produced by IRENA and the International Labour Organization has stressed the important role which will need to be played by the public sector if the energy transition’s employment benefits are to be shared equally.

The record efficiency was obtained thanks to an interlayer placed between the electron-transporting layer and the perovskite layer, which eliminated the need for passivation. The cell was also able to retain around 90% of its initial efficiency after 500 hours under standard illumination.