Rooftop PV

WoodMac Renewables & Power lowered their 2022 US solar capacity projection by 7.4 GW, to 22.2 GW, on supply chain pricing challenges. However, they project the Build Back Better bill could add 44 GW of capacity through 2026.

Green hydrogen can now compete with hydrogen produced with fossil fuels in Germany, according to new research. Scientists have looked at six different scenarios for alkaline and PEM electrolyzers and identified alkaline devices powered by grid-connected PV as the cheapest option.

German engineering association the VDMA has reported increasing orders and sales for PV equipment suppliers in the third quarter. China accounted for around 80% of PV production equipment demand during the period.

This year, residential solar reached several milestones in the United States, as extreme weather events have driven customer interest in home energy storage systems.

The 5.5%-efficient cell was fabricated through a low-temperature, two-step manufacturing process that is compatible with existing window glass manufacturing technology. Cells made with 70nm antimony trisulfide films achieved the best fill factor of around 57%, while the highest power conversion efficiencies were achieved with films ranging from 70 to 100nm.

Mondragon Assembly has developed a new solution for the interconnection of heterojunction cells with electrically conductive adhesive tech. It can now produce up to 2,600 cells per hour, and is already available on the market.

Dutch researchers have used optic colored filters to make building-integrated PV products more suitable for urban environments with cultural heritage value. They discovered that the filters do not affect a cell’s open-circuit voltage and fill factor, but only the short-circuit current.

Conceived by French solar company Mecojit, the solar carport solution can be deployed without excavation work and can be coupled with EV recharging stations.

India recorded 46.2 GW of installed solar capacity at the end of October, led by installations in the states of Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Gujarat.

Incorporating solar into our built environments represents an opportunity for hundreds of gigawatts to be installed worldwide without taking up any additional land. In many cases though, this will require solutions beyond typical rooftop PV installations and much closer cooperation between the PV and construction industries. A new report published by IEA PVPS looks to bring together the interests of both worlds, and clearly categorize both the building envelope and energy functions of different BIPV components.