Technology and R&D

SolarEdge Technologies, an Israel-based solar inverter and battery energy storage specialist, has inaugurated a new state-of-the-art R&D and Technology Center in Bengaluru. The facility will play a key role in supporting SolarEdge’s global innovation pipeline while addressing the unique needs of the Indian market.

The research group led by Professor Martin Green has published Version 66 of the solar cell efficiency tables. There are 17 new results reported in the new version.

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.

Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere, powering everything from consumer electronics to electric vehicles, residential PV storage systems, and, more recently, mitigating curtailment in large-scale wind and solar power plants. EVs are driving large-scale demand for Li-ion batteries which will result in substantial volumes of spent batteries in the near future. This scenario highlights the potential for repurposing EV batteries for second-life stationary applications, which could maximise their value before recycling. However, to fully realise this opportunity, several economic, technical, and regulatory challenges must be addressed and resolved.

Scientists have placed mist nozzles inside a bifacial PV module and measured it under an extremely hot climate. The module was found to generate up to 37% more electricity on sunny days and up to 46% more on cloudy days compared to standard monofacial panels.

New doesn’t always mean better: Passivated emitter and rear contact solar cells have earned their place through real-world reliability and cost-effective manufacturability.

An international research team has developed a metallization technique for TOPCon solar cells that can reportedly reduce silver usage in the devices’ rear side by 85%. The scientists replaced the commonly used Ag fingers with intermittent Ag dashes for contact formation and Ag-free fingers and busbars for electrical conduction.

Experts set to speak at the NetZero Milan Expo-Summit 2025 on May 15 have told pv magazine that tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) will remain the dominant cell technology in the near term due to ongoing advancements, despite rising competition from back-contact and heterojunction technologies.

Bouygues Construction Australia and Equans Solar and Storage are trialling an autonomous piling system machine to build French renewable giant ENGIE’s 250 MW Goorambat East Solar Farm in northern Victoria.

Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have developed a contactless method to measure the performance of back-contact solar cells, enabling in-line assessment of key parameters such as efficiency, fill factor, and current-voltage characteristics.