Toshiba claims 8.4% efficiency for transparent cuprous oxide solar cell
The record efficiency was achieved by engineering the cell with reduced copper(II) oxide (CuO) and copper (Cu) impurities in the thin-film deposition. It showed an open-circuit voltage of 1.13 V, a short-circuit current of 10.63 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 0.696.
NREL launches international consortium to advance high-tech mirrors used in concentrating solar plants
Goal is to reduce cost of heliostats by 50% and accelerate U.S. manufacturing
Paired with “wonder material,” over 21% efficiency demonstrated in perovskite solar cells
The use of phosphorene nanoribbons boosted the cell, putting it on par with traditional silicon cell output levels.
Lockheed Martin to provide flow battery for 103 MW Alberta solar + storage project
The Saddlebrook Solar + Storage Project will be a 102.5 MW installation, paired with 6.5 MW/52 MWh of Lockheed Martin’s GridStar Flow battery technology, and will be the largest flow battery energy storage facility in Alberta.
Shoring up the solar industry’s resilience to cyberattack
As solar and storage technologies are deployed on the grid in record numbers, there’s no time like the present to take steps to prevent solar and storage from being vulnerable to cyberattack.
MIT and Google develop solar cell simulator
The differential physics-based software simulates how the change in a given input can change the cell’s power output, potentially paving the way for faster improvements in PV efficiency.
Alabama students study outdoors in off-grid solar pods
In a partnership with startup SolarFi, the University of Alabama has deployed outdoor solar-powered study “pods”.
Autonomous robot for concentrated solar power installation and maintenance
Heliogen announced the roll-out of its robots to install and clean its CSP plants.
Icephobic surfaces for ice, snow shedding in utility scale solar
Developed by U.S. researchers, the proposed coating solution is claimed to effectively melt ice and snow with temperatures of up to -35 degrees Celsius. It was fabricated by using medium-chain triglyceride oil to plasticize two common industrial polymer polyvinyl chlorides and tested at a pilot facility in Alaska.
NASA to test solar-powered propulsion for asteroid defense
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission will employ roll-out solar arrays and an electric propulsion system to redirect Earthbound asteroids.
