Japan’s Sekisui Solar Film and the Netherlands’ TNO have signed a letter of intent to explore collaborations related to flexible perovskite solar PV. Talks will be initiated on a potential perovskite module factory in Brabant and the exchange of relevant information.

The latest report from the technical compliance and quality assurance company added several new producers but also noted several plant closures acorss the region. It said the current nameplate capacity for the region stands at 21 GW for modules, 3.2 GW for cells, and 1.5 GW for ingots.

Researchers in Sweden and Italy analyzed the economics of one-axis, vertical, and elevated PV systems for agrivoltaic applications, finding that overhead agrivoltaic systems may perform better the further south they are installed. The discounted payback period and levelized cost of electricity were also calculated and compared.

Researchers at the German research institute have demonstrated that the so-called EpiWafers could be used directly for solar cell fabrication without needing a pre-gettering step. Their experiments provide a proof of principle* for epitaxially grown silicon wafers from German wafer manufacturer NexWafe GmbH.

To make it easier to adopt building integrated PV (BIPV) as a glazing material, a group within the IEA Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IEA-PVPS) has tackled the solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) calculation for BIPV. It is part of IEA PVPS Task 15 international standardization efforts.

Swiss-British university spinoff, GraphEnergyTech, is developing graphene electrode technology to replace silver and other metals traditionally used in solar cell manufacturing

After finding a way to make spiro-OMeTAD, a popular perovskite solar cell hole transport layer, less prone to heat-induced crystallization, researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology are now seeking partners to scale the technology for large-area PV cells.

UNSW researchers were able to recover silicon from end of life solar PV panels pure enough for re-use in silicon carbide-based devices. Their novel multi-step method which includes thermal and chemical processes, also recovers silver.

The U.S.-based quantum dot (QD) materials company is developing polymer encapsulation materials that reportedly have the potential to provide a relative power boost of 16% when integrated into crystalline silicon PV devices

Scientists in India have simulated a novel perovskite solar cell that combinies a Dion-Jacobson 2D layer with a 3D halide perovskite. The design showed improved stability compared to reference cells without the DJ-2D layer.