World

U.S. thin-film manufacturer First Solar and Bill Gates-owned Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) are among the investors in the new company, which is called CubicPV and is expected to develop multi-junction perovskite solar cells with efficiencies of around 30%.

Electricity bill payers in nations as diverse as China, India, Germany, and Greece should be aware new solar projects can now generate electricity cheaper for them than legacy coal and gas-fired plants.

Researchers in Japan have found a new way to fabricate one of the most promising perovskite materials for PV application — the α-formamidinium lead iodide known as α-FAPbI3. With a pre-synthesized version of this material, they were able to produce a cell with a power conversion efficiency of 23.5% and a lifespan of more than 2,000 hours.

If the three record-busting low solar price tariffs recorded in the Middle East in the past 18 months are to be believed, renewables-powered hydrogen in prime sites in the region could already compete with gas-plus-CCS production, according to IRENA. Has the Gulf discovered the new petrol?

Yotta Energy’s new micro-inverter is claimed to be an ideal solution for commercial rooftop PV systems linked to between 500 kWh and 1 MWh of storage. The device has a peak efficiency of 96.5% and a nominal maximum power point tracking (MPPT) efficiency of 99.5%.

A French start-up has developed a concrete flywheel to store solar energy in an innovative way. Currently being tested in France, the storage solution will be initially offered in France’s overseas territories and Africa.

In a white paper, the three Chinese module manufacturers have reiterated the well-known refrain “bigger is not always better.” Experts from the three companies compared the BoS costs of 182mm-wafer-based modules and 210mm products, and found that the former have a slight advantage in racking, foundation, and land costs.

The BWRO unit, which has a treated water production capacity of around 11.80 ​L/h, was built with a pre-filtration module, a high-pressure DC pump, an RO module, and a post-treatment module. The PVT system was designed to meet the energy requirement of a high-pressure DC pump and a diaphragm-type circulation pump utilized to circulate soft water beneath the PV module for the active cooling of the panel itself.

Floating PV is a growing market, especially in Asian countries with land pressures. However, like many promising niches, it is growing faster than the standards surrounding it. With installed floating PV capacity set to double in 2021, a raft of various and sometimes competing standards are being floated, but the question remains – what is truly the best way forward?

An international research team has designed a residential solar-plus-storage system based on gravity. The system was built with a solar power generator, a bulk booster charge controller, an inverter, a solenoid device, a deep cycle battery, a pulley block, a geared motor, a microcontroller, and wire ropes. Its creators said the system is ideal for regions with high solar radiation. They found that, due to its high electrical requirements, the system needs to rely on high-power solar modules with an output of over 500 W.