Solar PV

Researchers in South Korea have successfully demonstrated the use of free ambient air as a fuel leveraging a sodium-based solid electrolyte to tackle the carbonate issue that has been holding back the rollout of metal-air batteries. Their sodium-air battery cell has demonstrated high efficiency, incresed energy density, and a broad voltage range.

Romanian energy company TMK Hydroenergy Power has switched on the country’s first floating solar project. The facility, located on a pond in Caras Severin county, is connected to a hydropower plant.

Quidnet Energy, a provider of geomechanical energy storage (GES) technology, has joined hands with distributed energy resources developer Hunt Energy Network to deliver 300 MW of storage projects in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid operating region.

Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications says that since 2021, it has received 44 reports of unwanted radio wave emissions from solar power systems, including interference with defense facilities and emergency wireless equipment. The ministry warns that PV systems may be removed by law if they continue to cause problems.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is offering grants from $10,000 to $250,000 in the second funding round of the Regional Off-Grid Electricity Access Project (ROGEAP) to develop off-grid solar in 13 West African and sub-Saharan African countries. The application deadline is June 23.

In its second monthly column for pv magazine, the IEC highlights the research on flexible crystalline silicon solar cells led by researcher Zhengxin Liu, the Vice Chair of IEC Technical Committee 82, which prepares standards for solar PV energy systems.

Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI) has kicked off 2.4 GW of renewables tenders, including a 1.2 GW procurement exercise and a 1.2 GW round.

Scientists in China have tested the influence of panel row spacing in increasing a PV system performance in a full-scale outdoor PV array experimental platform. They found that larger row spacing plays a limited role in improving thermal convection, observing that solar irradiance and wind speed are the key parameters for optimal PV system design.

Natural hydrogen explorer Gold Hydrogen says it has uncovered 95.8% pure hydrogen at its Ramsay Project on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula as it seeks to tap into growing demand for the gas as a clean energy source.

Solertix claims to have reduced yield losses in cell-to-module scaling by utilizing ultranarrow interconnection of 19.5 μm. It also says the proposed interconnection technique may be used to achieve a 30% efficiency in area-matched 4T tandem designs featuring a perovskite module over a silicon cell.