Not just for outer space: NREL has a path to cheaper GaAs solar cells
A team at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory has come up with a new process that would reduce the production cost of highly expensive – and highly efficient – gallium arsenide cells.
Hardware Brief: King Window Cleaning in SoCal, REC 25 times three, Jinko in space, more!
Please companies, get your services known, your gear covered – send press releases and datasheets to USA-Editors@pv-magazine.com. What’s on the docket today? Module pricing is going down, higher efficiency products more so – enough that you ought call you supplier, Quasar bidirectionally connects your home directly to the DC side of your cars energy storage and SolRates is refining their offerings.
Morning brief: First Solar settles $350M suit, assembly begins on Assembly Solar
Hello one and all to your usual Tuesday morning brief. Today we’ve got for you a CFO for SunPower spinoff, Maxeon, changes in the Canadian Solar Board and the sale of a solar project at a military base.
US scientists claim clear-sky irradiance model provides better results for module testing
Researchers at the American Institute of Physics have used the clear-sky irradiance model developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to measure the degradation rates of solar panels at a testing field in Germany over five years. The scientists say the model, when combined with real-world data, offers an efficient tool to evaluate the aging of PV technology.
Hardware brief: mobile military microgrid, $2500 EV tax credit, solar module pricing down, more!
It’s the start of the near year, it’s the start of new gear! Solpad offers an on-the-roof energy storage solution that can easily be scaled upward; Northern Reliability has been chosen to develop a easily movable battery and controllers for the US Navy; Solarrainframe has a mechanical solution to keeping dry under carports, more!
Why don’t early-stage VCs invest in solar any more?
How will solar startups innovate in the 2020s? Where are the disruptive PV technologies?
Shutdown continues at Hanergy-owned Alta Devices, high-efficiency PV pioneer
Alta Devices has not located a white-knight investor to save the company and resume its PV cell production. That means no health care or COBRA for its furloughed employees.
5 stories that sparked conversation in 2019
Certain articles at pv magazine strike a chord with readers and spark greater discussion among the community. Here are the most discussed articles of 2019 at pv magazine USA.
Tesla to hide ‘solar test-house’ under tents at Fremont site
Lora Kolodny at CNBC uncovered a recently granted building permit that allows Tesla to put up “two canopy covers” over its new “solar test houses.” Earlier this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that 2019 was “the year of the solar roof.”
1366 Technologies adds $18M in pursuit of cheaper silicon solar cells
The company’s technology falls in the ‘kerfless’ wafer category: Instead of sawing silicon ingots into wafers, a time-consuming and wasteful process, 1366’s technology forms wafers directly using molten silicon.
