China Pursues More Renewable Energy At Home & Abroad
China is intent on becoming a world leader in renewable energy, especially solar. It will add 40 GW or more in 2019 internally and expanding exports in Europe and Africa.
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New Fraunhofer Solar Cell Stringer Uses Adhesives For 2% Boost
An R&D team at Fraunhofer ISE has unveiled a new solar cell stringing machine that can boost cell performance 2% by using electrically conductive adhesives to fix solar cells to a foil substrate in a shingled pattern. The process reduces the number of manufacturing steps that soldering a connective ribbon would require, and imparts more efficient cell performance in several incremental ways.
How Efficient Will Solar PV Be In The Future? 10-Year Predictions For The Industry
If you were to walk into a solar store and purchase some of their best-selling PV panels, it is likely that their solar irradiance-to-electricity conversion efficiency would be around 17%. This is the typical efficiency (Fraunhofer ISE Photovoltaics Report, 2017) of the top-selling PV product, a multi-crystalline silicon panel. This means that for a typical panel, 17% of all incident solar energy is converted directly to usable electricity. This is quite impressive for a device that has no moving parts and can generate power at the location where the electricity is required (no transmission losses). It is no wonder that PV is already one of the cheapest power technologies available.
Advanced Solar PV Module Revenue Set To Reach $38 Billion In 2025, Says Navigant
The annual revenue from the global sales of advances solar PV modules is expected to reach $38 billion in 2025, according to a new report from clean-tech research company, Navigant Research.
REC Solar Switching Over All Production Capacity To Half-Cut PERC Cell Technology
REC Solar is switching all of its manufacturing/production capacity at its manufacturing plant in Tuas, Singapore, over to its half-cut PERC cell technology, according to recent reports. The company’s TwinPeak series of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules features the aforementioned technology. The production conversion will run around SG$200 million (~$182 million), … [continued]
Solar Power Prices Already Low — Are Breakthroughs Even Needed?
A few months ago, I wrote a piece for GE Look Ahead, a project of The Economist Group, about the future of solar energy — particularly, costs and how “breakthrough” technologies could play into the story (or not). For the piece, I interviewed some of the leaders in the solar energy research realm. An initial … [continued]
PERC Solar Cell Could Usher In Dramatic Drop In Cost Of Solar
Originally published on RenewEconomy. Solar cell technology developed by Australia’s world leading University of NSW solar research team is likely to become the standard for global manufacturers within 5 years, ushering in new dramatic falls in the cost of solar technology. Professor Martin Green, the head of the UNSW solar … [continued]
Meyer Burger Wins Order For Passivated Emitter Rear Cell Technology Equal To 2.5 GW Of…
The photovoltaics, semiconductors, and optoelectronics company Meyer Burger recently won a CHF38 million (US$40.9 million) order for passivated emitter rear cell (PERC) technology equivalent to 2.5 gigawatts (GW) of annual capacity. While the deal is certainly a big and important one, the customer involved hasn’t been publicly revealed — though Meyer Burger did … [continued]
New Renewable Energy Studies: “Garbage In, Garbage Out”
“Garbage in, garbage out:” three new renewable energy studies seek to undercut economic evidence that favors wind and solar energy with predictable results.
SCHOTT Solar Achieves Nearly 20% PV Efficiency Using New Fabrication Technology
SCHOTT Solar is producing silicon solar PV cells with nearly 20% efficiency at comparatively low cost using a combination of innovative technologies that promise to drive the cost of manufacturing solar photovoltaic cells, and the cost of producing electricity from solar energy, further down the curve.
