NREL launches 100% renewables study for Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico has 40GW of solar potential, said national lab staff in a webinar. The 100% study will begin by modeling the renewables milestones set by Puerto Rico law.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: Microquanta builds 12 MW ground-mounted project with perovskite solar modules
In other news, Haiyuan Material (HYM) said it will commission its 600 MW heterojunction cell factory in July and Polysilicon supplier Daqo announced it is seeking to raise RMB11 billion ($1.74 billion) through a share private placement.
New off-grid solar battery from China
Chinese manufacturer Bslbatt has unveiled a modular lithium-ion battery that can be used for the off-grid storage of solar energy. The device has a storage capacity ranging from 5.1 to 30.7 kWh and is claimed to provide steady operation for up to 6,000 charge cycles.
Novel IBC solar cell architecture based on crystal photonics shows efficiency potential of 29.1%
Scientists in Germany designed a poly-Si on oxide (POLO) interdigitated back-contact (IBC) solar cell integrating photon crystals and found this architecture has the potential to reach a power conversion efficiency of over 28%, which would be 1% higher than the current practical limit set by the scientific community. They also found that by improving passivation, the efficiency may be raised up to 29.1%.
Western Australia rolls out new rules to manage booming rooftop solar sector
Western Australia has introduced new curtailment rules which will allow for all new and upgraded solar PV and battery energy storage installations with an inverter capacity of 5 kW or less to be remotely turned down or switched off in emergency situations.
France deployed 2.68GW of solar in 2021
Solar was able to cover over 3% of France’s total electricity demand last year and its cumulative capacity reached 13,067MW at the end of December.
Work begins on world’s second largest PV system on a stadium roof
The stadium of German football club SC Freiburg will host a 2.4MW rooftop solar array that will be built with heterojunction modules provided by Swiss manufacturer Meyer Burger.
Enel, Comal plan 1GW solar tracker factory in Italy
Called Tracker Sun Hunter, the new factory will be located in an area of over 30,000 square meters inside Enel’s Montalto di Castro power plant which is no longer used for energy generation.
Mobile solar pump for remote areas
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar have developed a solar power system that can be easily moved between farms to pump water for irrigation. The kit comprises solar panels and an inverter to power a surface-mounted pump.
All-polymer solar cell with 15.53% efficiency via meniscus-assisted coating
Scientists in China have developed an organic, all-polymer solar cell with a special meniscus-assisted coating technique. They claim that the power conversion efficiency of the cell is the highest among solution-printing-based, all-polymer solar cells.
