Exoskeletons for solar panel mounting
Endesa, the Spanish unit of Italian power group Enel, is using a new technology in the construction of three solar parks in southern Spain.
Enel and French PV institute achieved an efficiency of 25.0% for a heterojunction solar cell
The solar cell calibration laboratory ISFH CalTeC has certified the efficiency of the cell, which was made with a standard M2 wafer.
New MPPT algorithm for bidirectional inverter design
A newly proposed inverter design relies on a solar charge controller featuring maximum power point tracking. It is based on an artificial fish-swarm algorithm, which offers high convergence speeds, flexibility, fault tolerance, and accuracy.
Wider wind-solar complementarity would mean less need for storage
A study from the Lappeenranta University of Technology states a deeper complementarity between solar and wind generation may favor renewables deployment reducing the need for stronger developments in storage technology. Combining solar with wind more widely could also reduce the need for ramping and improve the reliability of energy supply, say the researchers.
Simpliphi predicts cobalt-free battery takeover sooner than expected
pv magazine spoke with Catherine Von Burg, CEO of the Californian battery company, to discuss why she believes lithium-iron-phosphate is the chemistry of the near future.
Manufacturing process for mono cast solar cell exceeding 23% efficiency
Trina Solar has made a PV cell by directly applying the unmodified i-TOPCon process, originally developed for Cz mono wafers, to cast n-type quasi-mono silicon wafers. It claims the average efficiency, tested in-house with a calibrated reference cell, is 22.98%.
Solar-powered hydrogen under $2/kg by 2030
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have identified sites where hydrogen could be produced via PV electrolysis at prices ranging from $1.90/kg to $4.20/kg in the United States by the end of the decade.
German-led consortium aims for 33% efficient perovskite-silicon solar cell
The Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin (ISFH), the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Institute for Materials and Components in Electronics at the University of Hannover, as well as Centrotherm, Singulus, Meyer Burger and Von Ardenne are involved in a research project aimed at achieving a 27% conversion efficiency for silicon solar cells based on perovskite.
Screen-printed heterojunction solar cell with 20.48% efficiency
Researchers from the United States have used new passivated contact architectures to demonstrate a screen-printed silicon heterojunction solar cell on 40 micron thick standalone wafers.
The steeplechase of transparent PV
A South Korean research team has claimed that transparent PV technologies need to improve in terms of efficiency, stability and aesthetics before they can reach commercial maturity.
