Research

Illinois’s solar market under the Future Energy Jobs Act is just getting started, but a business group is calling for the next governor and state legislature to provide less restriction and more action in community and distributed solar programs.

Microlink Devices has achieved a record efficiency of 37.75% on its triple junction thin film cells, as confirmed by NREL. The lightweight cell achieves a power density of more than 3000 W/kg, and is designed for use in satellites and unmanned air vehicles (UAVs).

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced up to $20 million in funding for nine projects to advance early-stage solar power electronics technologies.

The DOE has issued a call for projects to apply for funding in the areas of grid integration, PV, CSP and workforce diversity.

SolarWindow Technologies, with the support of a Department of Energy grant, aims to bring semi-transparent solar glass to the market.

Three separate organizations under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Energy track various aspects of utility scale solar power plant’s costs, and are producing very different numbers.

Researchers in the U.S. have confirmed the existence of a novel state of the element manganese, first proposed in a journal dating from 1928, which could allow for the development of low-cost, high performance batteries for grid level and other energy storage applications.

The company is suing Genesem, a South Korean equipment manufacturing partner, for using Solaria’s technology outside of agreements.

Scientists led by Brown University have developed perovskite solar cells, which replace the toxic lead common to many of these material structures with titanium. The researchers say that with further optimization, the material could eventually be ideal for use as a tandem cell layer.

By doing the research, the partners hope to discover how solar and plant life interact and find effective ways for solar arrays and agricultural lands to co-exist.