Research

A research team led by Washington State University has developed a cloud-based system for trading and sharing energy from solar panels and batteries within a neighbourhood. The concept displayed potential energy cost savings of around 12% over a five-day test period.

A Concordia model reveals how photovoltaic pavements can electrify urban food delivery and mobility, slashing emissions by 98% while freeing rooftops for agriculture.

A Canadian research team has developed a framework for local urban agriculture production, with the produce harvested distributed by electric vehicles powered by sidewalk-integrated photovoltaics. The PV-powered transportation system was calculated to have a payback time of 2.8 years.

Renewable energy firm PowerUQ advocates for the use of Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) in solar project analytics to combat the widespread issue of performance shortfalls. By incorporating a wider range of variables and providing probability scenarios like P50 and P90, UQ aims to make solar generation forecasts more useful and accurate over a project’s long lifespan.

Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say their polymer coating could be used to protect photovoltaic modules, due to its impermeability to gases. The team has demonstrated that a 60-nanometer-thick film can extend the lifetime of a perovskite crystal by several weeks.

A team of researchers in Canada has developed the Jericho Open Resistive Data Logger—an open-access photovoltaic (PV) monitoring platform that integrates data acquisition and processing hardware, a software framework, and a comprehensive sensor array. Designed primarily for agrivoltaic applications, the system has a total estimated cost of around $2,000.

In its latest monthly for pv magazine, the International Solar Energy Society (ISES) explains how pumped-hydro energy storage combined with PV power generation could provide 24/7 power to data centers.

While large-scale solar and wind deployment “may have reduced” retail electricity prices over the past five years, net energy metering and renewable portfolio standards generally increased prices, the researchers found. But states with the highest renewable generation in 2024 had among the lowest prices.

Canadian researchers investigated how the transparency of cadmium telluride and crystalline silicon solar panels affects lettuce growth in agrivoltaic systems. They found that 69%–transparent silicon panels increased lettuce yield by 3.6%, whereas cadmium telluride panels led to a reduction in yield.

Report says new evaluation methods, including AI, will help make future batteries safer.