World

Perovskite-silicon tandem technology expert Gianluca Coletti explains what cycles the PV industry and scientific community experience every time there are new jumps in power conversion efficiencies at cell level. According to him, we are experiencing a much faster turnover of efficiency records typical of the early stage of development of a new technology holding an incredible potential.

University of New South Wales researchers have identified four failure modes caused by damp heat in heterojunction solar panels with a glass-back sheet configuration. The failures could result in power losses ranging from 5% to 50%.

NREL researchers model viable pathways to supplying the estimated 60 TW of capacity required for decarbonization, and study the effect that disruptive solar technologies may have on deployment cost and market opportunity.

Researchers from Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have unveiled a new solar dish plant design, while Plug Power has delivered its first electrolyzer system to Europe.

Researchers have defined a new machine learning-based methodology that reportedly reduces customer acquisition costs by about 15% or $0.07/Watt. It is based on an adapted version of the XGBoost algorithm and considers factors such as summer bills, household income, and homeowner’s age, among others.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.

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.

In its latest monthly column for pv magazine, the International Renewable Energy Agency shares a series of recommendations gathered from sector experts to help India reach its ambitious solar targets. According to its experts, Quality Infrastructure (QI) will be crucial for the country’s PV market in the years to come. QI is an interdependent ecosystem of the different elements (accreditation, certification, standards, testing, metrology, inspection & monitoring) working together in harmony, and all associated services should be developed in unity and not in a piecemeal fashion. A sound and internationally harmonized QI not only ensures that PV products and services deliver as expected by customers and national energy authorities, but also enables more efficient and competitive markets based on a global economy on scale.

The Renewable Energy Test Center (RETC) raised the issue of ultraviolet-induced degradation of the trending technology in its PV Module Index 2022.

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.