A British research team has investigated the technical feasibility of an air conditioning unit powered exclusively by solar-plus-storage and has found that two 130 Ah batteries charged by two 400 W solar panels are capable of supporting the system during the night.

Scientists in the United Kingdom have proposed using orbiting solar reflectors to enhance the electricity yield of terrestrial solar power plants. They claim this new technology may be particularly beneficial for improving generation at dusk and dawn, when irradiance is lower.

The European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) has confirmed the results of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology’s (KAUST) new perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell. The 1 cm2 device also achieved an open-circuit voltage of 1.974 V, a short-circuit current density of 20.99 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 81.3%.

TU Delft scientists have proposed a new methodology for off-grid PV-battery-electrolyzer-fuel cell systems in remote areas.

Chinese researchers have developed a solar cell using CsSnI3 perovskite, known for its unique phase transitions and near-IR emissions. By simulating the device with various electron transport layers (ETLs) and hole transport layers (HTLs), they determined that the optimal cell could be created using a titanium oxide (TiO2) ETL and a nickel(II) oxide (NiOx) HTL.

Sharp’s new IEC61215- and IEC61730-certified solar panel offers a power conversion efficiency of 22.07% and a bifaciality of more than 80%. The operating temperature coefficient is -0.30% per C and its power tolerance is 5%.

Scientists have used the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) HOMER software to calculate the degradation of solar panels deployed in two rooftop PV systems operating in Germany since 2003. Their calculations focused on the energy productivity of the systems.

The world’s top four largest polysilicon producers in 2022 were Chinese companies, led by Tongwei with 345,000 metric tons (MT), followed by GCL Technology, Daqo, Xinte, and Wacker Chemie.

Kaneka’s two-terminal tandem perovskite solar cell has achieved the highest efficiency ever recorded for such a device based on an industrial Czochralski (CZ) silicon wafer. It has an open-circuit voltage of 1.929 V, a short-circuit current density of 19.5 mA cm−2, and a fill factor of 77.55%.

University of New South Wales researchers have identified four failure modes caused by damp heat in heterojunction solar panels with a glass-back sheet configuration. The failures could result in power losses ranging from 5% to 50%.