World

A report by Finnish company Wärtsilä has estimated the potential impact if every dollar committed to a non-renewables energy sector recovery was instead funneled to clean power.

If confirmed, the global newly installed PV capacity for this year would be 5% more than that of 2019. China is forecast to be once again the world’s largest market, with 39 GW.

Scientists in the Netherlands fabricated three different perovskite layers, all using the same process. The three cells are all tuned to different bandgaps in order to absorb different wavelengths of light. A triple-junction device incorporating all three achieved 16.8% conversion efficiency. This, the researchers say, is a promising result for the technology, though would require the development of new wide-bandgap perovskites to push much further.

The Italian energy company has developed four big solar plants in the last 21 months to add 794 MW of generation capacity to its 3.67 GW solar portfolio and is emblematic of companies from the wider energy sector focusing on the renewable technology.

Scientists in the United States took a closer look at the way charges move through a perovskite material, and found that replacing hydrogen in the material with a heavier isotope can both reduce thermal conductivity and increase carrier lifetime, potentially leading to more efficient solar cells. And the group expects continuing study of charge states and molecule dynamics to yield further important discoveries.

A research paper into the prospects of manufacturing ‘power-to-liquid’ kerosene in Germany has concluded the government will end up importing it. Wherever the world’s clean aviation fuels are made, however, it seems a lot of clean power will be needed to drive the production process.

Scientists led by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a new stress testing protocol for PV modules, one designed to simultaneously expose modules to multiple stresses, as they likely would be in the field. Putting modules through this test, the researchers have already been able to reveal new information regarding backsheet degradation, and they promise new insights into other degradation mechanisms both known and unknown as well.

Analysts at Mercom Capital Group have tallied up corporate funding, venture capital and debt and public market investment for battery storage, smart grids and energy efficiency companies. From a financial perspective, the industry appears resilient to the Covid-19 crisis and ready to grow further.

In an update to its International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaics, the German engineering association the VDMA said that solar module sizes of up to 4.0m² may be brought to mass production in the future.

A new report by Wood Mackenzie suggests that rapid solar module technology innovations in the next decade will lead to significant increases in module power class, better performance and more versatile applications. Technology and lower capex will be key to sector growth, it adds.