Technology

Scientists in Germany designed a poly-Si on oxide (POLO) interdigitated back-contact (IBC) solar cell integrating photon crystals and found this architecture has the potential to reach a power conversion efficiency of over 28%, which would be 1% higher than the current practical limit set by the scientific community. They also found that by improving passivation, the efficiency may be raised up to 29.1%.

Also on the rise: Perch Energy to bring community solar to Massachusetts. US start-up mPower Technology is scaling up its flexible crystalline silicon solar module technology for spatial and terrestrial applications. Popular mid-Atlantic restaurant and convenience store chain, Sheetz, has come to a long-term renewable energy supply agreement with Constellation. Ohio regulators approve 325MW solar project. The Massachusetts Solar Technical Assistance Retrofits program has committed to 3MW of development. Despite Q4 loss, REC Silicon has big plans for US polysilicon manufacturing.

US start-up mPower Technology is scaling up its flexible crystalline silicon solar module technology for spatial and terrestrial applications. The back-contact solar panels consist of micro-singulated silicon dies that are “hyper-interconnected” in series or in parallel. The devices have efficiency ranging from 22 to 23% depending on the size or applications.

Puerto Rico has 40GW of solar potential, said national lab staff in a webinar. The 100% study will begin by modeling the renewables milestones set by Puerto Rico law.

Breaking research reveals solar cells can be used as lens-free, high-speed optical detectors in underwater environments. The research team said the devices may offer a lower-cost alternative to lensed devices.

Also on the rise: Fire alarms shut down Moss Landing Energy Storage facility. SolarEdge reports record revenue. Mosaic custs costs of solar loans. Policies are working in Illinois, where solar is surging. Wave energy isn’t expected to rival solar or wind power, but NREL sees use cases for the technology. Canada-US-Mexico panel says Section 201 tariffs violate agreement.

While there are mechanical and cost issues that currently block widespread adoption of wave energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is exploring new ways to harness the power of the ocean’s waves.

Microinverter provider Enphase entered an agreement with Swell Energy to participate in distributed virtual power plants in California, New York, and Hawaii.

Winter storm Uri that brought a deep freeze to Texas is also bringing insight into grid vulnerabilities, the need for more renewables, and the potential of solar-plus-storage.

With 3G set to be shut down at the end of this month, some solar inverters will lose connectivity and stop reporting data. The free Sunvoy app developed by Ipsun Tech addresses this upcoming obstacle by mapping locations of affected inverters, so that installers may swap out equipment at those sites.