US research lab rewires solar cell increasing efficiency to 27.3%, sees path to greater than 32%
NREL has published a paper showing an experimental solar cell, with a unique technique for wiring two separate solar cells into one, that increased the cell’s efficiency by 4%. As well the document offer a respectable review of other technologies being developed.
Alta Devices hopes outside investors will revive the Hanergy-owned thin-film GaAs solar firm
Alta’s COO: “An agreement has been reached between Alta Devices and Hanergy to allow Alta to bring in outside investors to breathe new life into the company, and to get the thin film GaAs technology leader back on track.”
Solar tariff talks on the menu – bifacial exemption extended and ITC argued
Federal regulators upheld the bifacial solar module import tariff as a public good, and potential protector of irreparable harm against solar developers. Concurrently, the trade courts reviewed the solar module import tariff as a whole, with some groups stating module manufacturing showed success, while solar cell manufacturing hasn’t been helped.
Hardware brief: Solar panel walking shoes, poly modules dying?, Trina poly bifacial breaks record, more!
You’re busy, so we keep it simple – only the hardware here folks! Los Angeles simplified its installation requirements, solar+storage install in Vermont, solar walking shoes that spread the force to 1/10th allowable weight, Trina setting bifacial poly records, and polysilicon pricing at the floor!
GM building $2 billion dollar electric vehicle battery factory in Ohio
LG Chem and GM have announced an agreement to build a 30 GWh EV battery factory in Lordstown, Ohio which will employ 1,100 people and come online in 2023.
Deeper analysis of bifacial solar panel data – including greater cooling and how DC to AC ratios affect clipping
Soltec single axis tracker research shows greater production in a two-in-portrait configuration versus a single module by just over 2%, driven mostly by lower module temperatures as well hardware design adjustments.
All I want for Christmas is a solar power plus Enphase Ensemble battery backup
Enphase has released training materials and a pre-order page for its home energy storage product – the Ensemble. Here we review the hardware specs and the installation directions.
Hardware Brief: Solar services, really fast module install, install of the week, module pricing flat, more!
Happy Thanksgiving y’all, hope you hugged someone this holiday. Friday – means solar hardware (and services!) – Solar Services advertising their inverter and engineering support, Gamechange installing modules really fast with a new clip, Sherin and Lodgen supported their first solar+storage and finance deal, Sungrow+Hanwha+NEXTracker in a Florida install, and a little bit more!
Solar panels manufactured by a solar power installer
Vikram Solar recently announced three commercial sized solar modules for the US market – a framed and frameless bifacial, and a half cut standard monoPERC – whose peak output ranges from 375 through 425 watts, available starting in January 2020.
Hardware – energy storage – brief: Sunverge+LG, SMA+Dynapower, Cybertruck (Updated), more!
Since we got a lot of energy storage links this week, we decided to throw a whole bunch in at once! As well, we see that polysilicon modules are still edging downward in price, Green Rhino has a portable solar+storage system, the EIA showing that most energy storage installed in the USA is lithium ion, and a bit more!
