Switzerland

Sulzer, a Switzerland-based fluid engineering specialist, has supplied molten salt pumps for a 100 MW concentrated solar power (CSP) project in China. The facility is designed to provide solar power 24 hours a day.

A group of researchers has investigated how high temperature heat pumps may be upscaled for industrial applications and has found that larger setups promise higher efficiency. They also found that smaller setups show a better coefficient of performance resulting from design effects.

The SLF research institute recently completed a survey on the Bernina Pass commissioned by a PV system design company that wants to build a solar park there. Measuring snow with drones makes it possible to identify the most suitable terrain and just a few meters to the left or right can makes a difference.

A Swiss research team published a review of the technologies used to manufacture of colored building integrated PV, discussing competitive characteristics of more than a dozen products, as well as success factors to drive market development.

Swiss voters have approved a new electricity law that mandates PV systems on large buildings, supports electricity communities, and encourages collective self-consumption.

A recent report from the Swiss Federal Council describes the difficult trajectory of efforts to rebuild the domestic PV industry and concludes that plans to create a European supply chain could be too expensive.

A European research team has investigated interconnection and encapsulation strategies to improve the damp heat and mechanical resilience of vehicle integrated photovoltaic (VIPV) modules, finding carbon-fibre reinforced plastics to be promising.

Switzerland installed 602 MW of solar in the first four months of the year, bringing its total installed PV capacity to around 6.8 GW by the end of April.

The Chinese PV industry has benefited from the availability of substantial finance over the past two decades, supporting the development of the renewable, zero-carbon capability essential for meeting the goals of the Paris climate agreement. Easy access to finance has led to unsustainably low prices and unnecessary losses, however, impacting China’s ability to sustain support for renewable energy systems. As the nation expands clean power installations and enhances grid-balancing capacity, maintaining consistent financial support has become more challenging.

The tandem solar cell is based on a perovskite top cell treated with an additive known as 2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzylphosphonic acid (pFBPA), which reportedly improves its power conversion efficiency and fill factor. The tandem device also integrates a bottom heterojunction silicon cell made with a 190-μm-thick, 2 Ω.cm, n-type, float-zone, shiny-etched monocrystalline wafer.