Research

Hong Kong has limited land, and researchers have checked how much of the city can be powered if most of its water reservoirs were to be fully or partially covered with floating PV systems. At best, full coverage can supply more than 15% of the city’s total demand, and more than 60% of the residential demand.

While completing pilot projects in the U.S. and Europe, Mirai Solar has certified its lightweight PV module designed to work as a shade screen in agrivoltaics applications, such as greenhouses.

A Swiss research team has developed a low-temperature sintering and interface-coating process that significantly improves the durability of argyrodite-based solid-state batteries. The approach delivers high ionic conductivity and long cycle life, retaining 75% of capacity after 1,500 cycles.

An international research group has conducted a literature review of capital expenditure-driven levelized cost of electricity optimization strategies for utility-scale PV systems. Tracking optimization, system voltage escalation, and advanced system design are identified as the most promising cost reduction areas. “The next wave of PV research must be LCOE-native, system-level, and deployment-validated,” a member of the research group said.

A new Perspectives research study on the future of the global PV supply chain outlines how module prices, performance, and lifetimes could evolve over the next 25 years. The work reflects a collaboration among leading solar research institutions worldwide. One of the study’s authors, the director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), told pv magazine that solar module and cell efficiencies could exceed 35% by 2050, with panel prices expected to drop by a factor of two.

The use of a novel roll-to-roll process and optimization technology resulted in polymer foils for use in colored PV modules in a potentially wide range of colors with low iridescence and low levels of efficiency loss.

By 2050, sodium-ion batteries with fast learning rates could deliver storage at 11–14 €/MWh – cheaper than lithium-ion at 16–22 €/MWh – while also offering higher energy-to-power ratios and high cycle durability, a new research finds.

New UNSW research found that about 20% of solar modules in large PV plants degrade much faster than expected. They recommend holistic strategies such as robust materials, advanced designs, and proactive monitoring to decouple degradation pathways and prevent cascading failures.

A Husqvarna researcher developed a fast, interpretable PV hotspot-detection method using IR thermography and Lab* color-space features instead of heavy neural networks, achieving up to 95.2% accuracy with shallow classifiers. The lightweight system works in real time on drones or edge devices and could save 17,620 kWh and 8.9 tons of CO₂ annually by improving fault detection in solar panels.

France-based DOTSun has developed an on-site repair solution for solar panels with degraded backsheets, compatible with PA, PVDF, and PET types. The system uses a compact laminator to apply a protective film to the rear side of the module, reportedly restoring insulation and extending the service life of up to 2,000 panels per site.