Momentum builds for perovskite tandems, 25%+ efficiency achieved
Researchers from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and Oxford PV have presented a new record perovskite tandem solar cell, with a 25.2% conversion efficiency, independently verified by Fraunhofer ISE. Bernd Stannowski, from HZB presented the results this week at the World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC-7) in Hawaii.
Tesla to lay off 9% of workforce, quit Home Depot
The company will return to selling solar primarily through its stores and online.
SunPower and Enphase team up with microinverter acquisition
Through the deal SunPower gets $25 million and stock; however the bigger deal may be Enphase’s right to be the company’s exclusive residential inverter supplier.
United States: Large-scale solar stays strong in Q1 2018
Thanks in no small part to modules stockpiled before the Section 201 tariffs hit, both the utility-scale and “non-residential” market segments grew year-over-year in Q1. And while the duties are expected to play a greater role in 2019, there are other factors supporting ongoing market growth.
University of California gives electrons a one-way ticket
A new study from University of California, Riverside, uses electric dipoles to accelerate electron in one direction, whilst completely stopping it in the other. The discovery, according to researchers, could lead to improvements in solar cell and other energy conversion technologies.
First Solar breaks ground on 1.2 GW factory in the US
The plant is the second-largest planned in the Western Hemisphere, and will triple the thin film module maker’s manufacturing capacity in the United States.
Lowest public solar power contract in the United States: 2.49¢/kWh
Arizona’s largest power user has approved a 20-year power contract with a 30 MW solar project at 2.49¢/kWh, the lowest price for a public solar power contract to date. The deal also involves shutting down a coal plant.
U.S. scientists develop scale for measuring perovskite energy
A team from Rice University and Los Alamos National Laboratory has been able to observe electronic properties of perovskites at the quantum scale, and made discoveries likely to impact the development of perovskite solar cells.
World’s largest li-ion battery and 707 MW of solar power in Colorado proposal
Xcel Energy’s 120-day report to Colorado regulators includes an additional 1.1 GW of wind at 1.1-1.8¢/kWh. Solar power bids have come in at 2.2-2.7¢/kWh, and solar+storage at 3.0-3.2¢/kWh.
SolarPower Europe revises down global outlook for 2018… but only a bit
Despite recent developments in China, the European solar association believes global newly installed PV capacity this year will reach 102 GW, only 5 GW lower than its previous guidance.
