New solar trailer bus from Sono Motors
Munich, Germany’s municipal bus fleet will now be equipped with solar-powered trailer units.
Ukraine invasion reshaping discussion about energy, pricing, renewables
Indra Overland, the head of the Center for Energy Research at the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs, tells pv magazine how the Ukraine war is irreversibly changing the global energy landscape, making massive renewables deployment a certainty. But labor issues, equipment shortages, and reliance on Chinese manufacturing remain obstacles.
Invasion of Ukraine an inadvertent boost for green hydrogen
Rystad Energy and BloombergNEF indicate that the impact of the war has sent prices of fossil fuel-tied forms of hydrogen production surging, leaving the gradual but consistent downward price trend of green hydrogen now looking remarkably competitive.
Construction complete for Colorado steel operation’s 300MW solar project
The Bighorn Solar Project has been completed by McCarthy Building in partnership with project owner Lightsource bp.
IHS Markit: Battery prices won’t fall until 2024
Business data analyst IHS Markit published a series of clean tech predictions for the year that also highlighted the rising proportion of sub-5MW solar projects in the global market, and cheaper clean energy financing costs even as panel prices continue to rise.
Novel IBC solar cell architecture based on crystal photonics shows efficiency potential of 29.1%
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%.
REC Silicon reports loss in Q4, but remains optimistic
REC Silicon ASA got a boost by Hanwha Solutions’ investment and is now looking to restart Moses Lake facility, along with eyeing opportunities in battery materials.
Fraunhofer ISE reaches legal settlements with seven inverter manufacturers who infringed its patent
In 2002, the Fraunhofer ISE patented the HERIC circuit for highly efficient inverters. Since then, the institute says, it has recorded out-of-court settlements in seven patent infringement lawsuits against companies from China, Taiwan and Germany.
Recycled silicon used in 19.7% efficient PERC solar cells
Led by German research institute Fraunhofer ISE, the consortium has built the solar cells with 100% crystalline silicon recycled from end-of-life photovoltaic panels. The silicon is recycled through a technique conceived by German specialist Reiling GmbH & Co. KG and the Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics CSP.
Robot dog for PV plant monitoring
A robot dog developed by Boston Dynamics monitors a solar park by walking between the panel rows following a programmed route. It uses its built-in thermal vision system to generate thermographic reports on the status of the different PV plant components.
