PV-powered thermal distillation device with self-cleaning, cooling
Scientists in Hungary have built a prototype of a thermal distillation device, supported by PV power. The PV panels use an IoT component that self-cleans when dust is detected and cools itself when the temperatures are too high. The system achieved a daily freshwater yield of 6.1 L/m2⋅day.
NREL researchers warn of unexpectedly high UV-induced degradation in n-type solar modules
A research team from the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory has analyzed n-type modules deployed in a 3 MW commercial PV project in an effort to assess the high degradation rate reported by the plant owner. The scientists found that ultraviolet-induced degradation (UVID) was a major factor affecting the facility’s performance.
Scaling perovskite tandems’ U.S. prospects
Three US manufacturers actively working to commercialize their respective perovskite-silicon tandem technologies make the case for tandem modules. CubicPV, Caelux and Swift Solar argue a commercial future for perovskites is inevitable, and they tell pv magazine the current policy environment could work in the technology’s favor.
Floating PV system with ring-like floater geometry
Scientists in China have investigated the hydrodynamic performance of a novel modular floating photovoltaic system. They did so using a novel hybrid approach, which integrates viscous-flow effects from computational fluid dynamics into a potential-flow solver. They analyzed the new system with varying numbers of panels, either in a single chain or a parallel configuration.
Researchers identify main source of wide-bandgap solar perovskite degradation
Scientists in Belgium have investigated how perovskite absorbers used in solar cell degrade under three different stress test types and have found that the interface between the perovskite layer and the electron transport layer suffers from weak thermomechanical stability, which creates the conditions for performance losses.
Chinese Academy of Sciences developing thermoacoustic heat pump for industrial applications
The researchers developed a heat-driven thermoacoustic heat pump that can purportedly achieve a temperature lift of 125 C. It uses a thermoacoustic heat pump to stably release the heat from the engine unit. The system also includes a thermoacoustic engine unit and acoustic resonators.
Encapsulant delamination behavior in PV glass recycling
Researchers in Spain investigated effective separation of encapsulants from PV glass with a focus on melting behavior and resistance to the hot knife-method of delamination. The results indicated that thermoplastic polyolefin encapsulants were the easiest to remove from the PV glass.
Improving TOPCon solar cell performance with rear treatment techniques
Researchers in China have investigated four strategies that minimize TOPCon solar cell surface recombination centers and improve light trapping performance. They identified alkali polishing with micro-texturing as the most suitable technique to improve TOPCon cell open-circuit voltage and fill factor and the overall device performance.
Hydrogen can mitigate curtailment in floating PV-pumped hydro energy storage systems
Scientists at Italy’s University of Cagliari explored the integration of a water electrolyzer with a floating PV-pumped hydro energy storage system. They found that under high curtailment conditions, hydrogen production helped to stabilize system efficiency and lower the levelized cost of electricity when compared to a system without the electrolyzer.
Solar-to-X enables industrial defossilization turning power to molecules or materials
The industry sector is most challenging to defossilize, due to high energy and feedstock demand, large and continuously running production plants, hard-to-abate process emissions, and infrastructural challenges. In public discourse, hydrogen is discussed prominently for industry, but its role may be overestimated. Solar PV as the least cost source of electricity may bring the electrification of industry to the next level.
