Technology

Kaneka said the cells will be utilized in the roof glass of Toyota’s Prius PHEV electric car. It plans to begin full-scale delivery of in-vehicle PV products this year.

ACME and Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) have agreed to jointly explore the setting up of hydrogen generation plants, including electrolyzers, to blend green hydrogen in IGL’s natural gas supply.

IIT Kanpur and Lohum will work together to advance lithium-ion battery testing technology and techniques for evaluating battery raw material quality. Lohum will additionally sponsor R&D labs at IIT Kanpur, provide a research fellowship to Ph.D. students, and help IITK commercialize its research outcomes.

Indian scientists have built a four-terminal silicon-perovskite solar cell that uses a top perovskite device with an efficiency of up to 17.1%. The top cell incorporates a room-temperature sputtered transparent conducting electrode (TCE) as a rear electrode.

Gayatri Dadheech, chief technology officer at Exide Industries Ltd, told pv magazine their first-phase 6 GWh lithium-ion cell manufacturing capacity in India would become operational by December next year and will produce lithium ferro phosphate (LFP) and nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) cells. The following 6 GWh, targeted by 2027, could be based on advanced lithium-ion, solid-state, or other battery technology.

Thin-film technologies have long promised to make a major impact on the solar industry but have largely been constrained to niche applications and research labs if they were not shredded by the market. After several false starts, current trade dynamics and promising research programs may help solar thin films find their place in the sun.

Kunwer Sachdev, the founder of Su-kam brand inverters in India, has converted his farmhouse in Gurugram into an R&D and manufacturing facility for new-age solar and lithium battery storage products under his new venture Su-vastika Systems. He speaks to pv magazine about their offerings including mobile energy storage, lithium battery tester, solar inverters, and more.  

Mauritian researchers have developed a solar tracker prototype that increases current by around 37%. The device uses a simplified and mechanical tracking system.

Badenova has installed 912 glass-glass PV modules along a cycling path in the city of Freiburg, Germany, as part of a new pilot project.

Dutch scientists have reported higher degradation risk for n-type TOPCon cells with EVA encapsulant due to potential moisture degradation. Front-side metallization makes n-type cells more vulnerable than p-type cells, according to damp heat tests.