Transparent tandem solar cell hits record 12.3% efficiency
A global research team has developed a tandem solar cell with 30% transparency by combining perovskite and organic layers, achieving a record 12.3% efficiency for transparent solar cells.
Compressed air energy storage system for homes, businesses
Segula Technologies has launched its Remora Stack product, a containerized isothermal air compression storage solution the company claims is 70% efficient.
Mandatory switch to smart meters on track in Flanders
Belgian grid operator Fluvius says it is on course to finish installing smart meters in all solar-powered homes in the Belgian region of Flanders by the end of this year.
Corporate PPAs with variable price structure achieve higher performance
Researchers in Portugal have simulated 800 power purchase agreemeents across eight different contract type and have found that contracts with a variable price structure achieve higher performance. Their analysis considered net present value, contract performance deviation and volume residual as the main indicators.
UK researchers build two-electrode photoelectrochemical device with 5% solar-to-hydrogen efficiency
A research team from two London universities have developed a multi-layer device that addresses the instability of organic materials in water to further their use in direct solar hydrogen generation. Monolithic tandem anodes fabricated by the team reached a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 5%, a record in organic photoelectrochemical device performance.
SMA America releases 99.2% efficient grid-scale battery storage inverter
The inverters use a silicon carbide metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor for high power conversion capability.
Tecnalia, Vita International developing solar guardrails
Spain’s Tecnalia and Italy-based Vita International have designed a new photovoltaic guardrail, set for testing later this year on a 100-meter stretch of a highway service area between Turin and Trieste, Italy.
Ultra-short-term PV forecasting based on convolutional neural network, long short-term memory
Scientists have created a novel probabilistic model for 5-minutes ahead PV power forecasting. The method combines a convolutional neural network with bidirectional long short-term memory, attention mechanism, and natural gradient boosting.
Italy allocates 278.5 MW of PV in latest renewables auction
In the country’s 16th renewable energy procurement exercise, the lowest bid came in at €0.07199/kWh and was offered for a 2.7 MW solar facility in the province of Ancona, central Italy.
I, Photovoltaics
New research from Germany has investigated for the first time the idea of building a photovoltaic Dyson sphere, a theoretical megastructure that could provide vast amounts of energy for interstellar space travel and large-scale technological endeavors. Despite its highly theoretical and science-fiction inspiration, the study explains what consequences a similar construct would have on life on Earth.
