Next Energy and Marubeni are developing a blockchain tech for PV module inspection – with the support of the Japanese government – which they claim is able to provide data on a panel’s traceability and components as well as verifying that the data were not modified or tampered with.

Developed by the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER), the “non-destructive” technology is claimed to enable the recovery of 100% of a module’s glass and to allow the reuse of silicon for producing new solar cells with an efficiency of 20.05%.

An Indian-Malaysian research group has investigated the effectiveness of several passive cooling techniques for solar panels, including the placement of plants around the modules or coir pith underneath them, both of which, surprisingly, offered good performance in terms of temperature reduction and power yield.

German scientists have applied a new combination of cathodes and electrolytes to improve the stability of lithium-metal batteries. They fabricated a device with an energy density of 560 watt-hours per kilogram and a Coulombic efficiency of 99.94%.

Supersola has developed a 315 W, half-cut monocrystalline PV module. It costs €699 and can be coupled with other two panels to form a 1 kW residential PV system.

Japanese scientists have developed a new lithium-sulfur battery by using titanium oxide and titanium nitride to prevent the formation of polysulfides during the fabrication process. This allows the battery to retain 85% of its capacity after 500 cycles at 2 C.

Scientists in Italy have created a hybrid thermoelectric photovoltaic (HTEPV) system based on a thermoelectric generator and a wide-gap perovskite solar cell. The device is able to recover waste heat from the PV unit and produce additional power. According to its creators, this configuration needs large gap cells as these are less sensitive to temperature in terms of efficiency.

Researchers from the TNO in the Netherlands have proposed two novel east-west PV plant designs that are claimed to increase soil quality underneath the solar panels. Both approaches are said to provide a 77% ground coverage ratio, which compares to a 90% ratio in conventional east-west oriented projects.

A British-Australian research team has assessed the potential of liquid air energy storage (LAES) for large scale application. The scientists estimate that these systems may currently be built at a cost between €300 and €600 per kilowatt-hour and that a positive business case could be favored by certain conditions, including a determined price structure in the energy market and the presence of a grid unable to support high levels of renewable energy penetration.

Developed by a Vietnamese-Korean research group, the complex PV device was built with a bottom bifacial crystalline silicon perovskite-filtered heterojunction sub-cell that is able to absorb all solar spectra in the short-wavelength range.