Technology and R&D

Also on the rise: Solar project updates in California, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee. Transferability, or selling tax credits, top of mind at SEIA Finance. And more.

An international group of researchers has calculated the potential for floating solar across the world. The results show a generation potential of 9,434 TWh per year across 114,555 global reservoirs, with 30% of their area covered. The United States leads with 1,911 TWh per year of potential, followed by China at 1,107 TWh per year and Brazil at 865 TWh per year.

Midsummer and researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), say that their new tandem PV cell is suitable for the company’s Duo production equipment, which makes 56 mm x 156 mm CIGS cells on a flexible stainless steel substrate.

Scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), have used an antioxidant known as L-glutathione as an interlayer in an organic PV cell to prevent other materials from oxidizing. The cell has an efficiency of 13.5% and an average visible transmittance of 21.5%. The researchers said it is suitable for applications in solar greenhouses.

Scientists from Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE and US panel maker Solaria have applied thermal laser separation and post-metallization passivated edge technology to tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) cell production. They have developed shingle PV devices that are more efficient than cells built with conventional laser scribing and mechanical cleaving methods.

Banyan Infrastructure is raising a $25 million Series B equity round from Energize Ventures, SE Ventures and Elemental Excelerator to digitize the manual process of procuring project finance between banks, investors and project developers.

Honda has revealed that it is testing a pilot stationary fuel cell stationary power system in California.

Canada’s Swap Robotics received $7 million to scale its robotics-as-a-service offering.

Now in its 28th year, the forum facilitates connections between for cleantech entrepreneurs and investors, helping to drive innovation to market.

Agrivoltaic installations with vertically oriented solar panels are increasingly being adopted and studied across the globe.