Technology and R&D

Up to 50% of the energy absorbed by a solar cell is lost as heat. Scientists are now developing a third generation of “hot carrier” solar cells that take advantage of this heat, potentially breaking the Shockley-Queisser limit of silicon-based PV.

Stanford researchers develop a device that harvests energy from the temperature difference between the PV cell and the air.

US scientists have developed a battery that can retain 92% of its initial capacity over periods of 12 weeks, with a theoretical energy density of 260 W/hour per kg. It was built with an aluminum anode and a nickel cathode, immersed in molten-salt electrolyte.

SMA is offering a new line of four inverters with power ratings of 12kW, 15kW, 20kW and 25kW, for use in rooftop PV systems up to 135kW in size. It claims the inverters provide grid-compliant power control of entire systems and enable over-dimensioning of PV arrays by up to 150%.

The AgriSolar Clearinghouse embarked on its national tour of agrivoltaics at Arizona’s Biosphere 2. Agrivolatics is the practice of co-locating food production and solar photovoltaics.

Boviet Solar has announced plans to rebrand its modules, while shifting its focus to new cell technologies.

If the school turns to geothermal for all of its heating and cooling needs, Berkeley will be the first University of California campus to achieve on-site zero-carbon energy goals.

Munich, Germany’s municipal bus fleet will now be equipped with solar-powered trailer units.

The Solar Energy Technology group awarded $50,000 to five groups for most accurately predicting solar generation data over a four week period, at ten geographically diverse sites across the US.

The result, confirmed by Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin (ISFH), was achieved on a heterojunction solar cell based on an M6 wafer.