Technology

Researchers at Fraunhofer ISE have developed a perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell using a TOPCon bottom cell with standard textured front surfaces. Their results show that TOPCon bottom cells can perform comparably to heterojunction cells in tandem devices in terms of shunt resistivity, supporting scalable, cost-effective industrial production.

India witnessed above-average precipitation and prolonged cloud cover through July and August, limiting the potential of PV generation across many states. Several regions, including Punjab, Haryana, and the Himalayan foothills, were hit hardest by flooding and thunderstorms. The increase in atmospheric moisture and aerosol scattering led to reduced Global Horizontal Irradiation (GHI) and reduced energy output.

Modern wind turbines and solar plants generate large volumes of operational data. By leveraging analytics, inefficiencies can be identified, performance assessed in real-time, and emerging issues addressed before they escalate. A dynamic operations and maintenance (O&M) support system builds on this intelligence to provide a strong grip on performance levels while minimising downtime.

LEAPTING (Huzhou LEAPTING Technology Co., Ltd.) has secured a major contract to manufacture and deliver 2,700 units of its flagship G1 automated cleaning robot for a 750 MW solar power project in India.

Researchers at Nanyang Technological University have demonstrated a method to integrate chemically inert low-dimensional interface materials into the fabrication of inverted perovskite solar cells. Their prototype solar cells retained over 93% of the initial power conversion efficiency of 25.1% after 1,000 hours of operation, and 98% after 1,100 hours at 85 C.

A 2 MW solar park in Wallonia, Belgium, will rely 50 kW of hydrogen-producing solar modules developed by Solhyd, a spin-off from KU Lueven. The installation will be the first demonstration of Solhyd’s technology at a commercially-relevant scale.

Elon Musk says a constellation of solar-powered artificial intelligence satellites could regulate the planet’s energy balance and limit global warming.

With renewables’ share in power generation expected to grow significantly, there will also be a push in the demand for next-generation transformers that are capable of handling the intermittent nature of solar, wind, and other non-polluting sources of energy. The grid of the future demands not only more transformers but smarter, adaptive, and sustainable designs that can support India’s ambitious renewable targets and fast-rising power demand.

Solar panel cleaning equipment company Objectif Drone has launched a new 7 kg dual-brush cleaning robot with a speed of 5 km/h made for small and medium-sized PV installations.

A Saudi–Egyptian research team investigated the effects of four types of dust on photovoltaic panels in arid coastal environments, finding that power losses can reach up to 48%.