Author: solarenergy
Researchers from Cambridge have analyzed the benefits of installing a PV system on the roof of an apartment building alongside energy renovation and have found that solar photovoltaics, especially when combined with heat pumps, makes renovation projects more affordable. June 25, 2024 Lior KahanaA group of scientists from the University of Cambridge have investigated the economic benefits of combining a basic energy efficiency retrofit with the installation of rooftop PV and found that solar panels can significantly reduce renovation costs.The team conducted its analysis on two post-war apartment buildings in the German city of Aachen. The retrofit was calculated as…
Controlling electrolytes will pave the way for electric vehicles Professor Soojin Park, Seoha Nam, a PhD candidate, and Dr. Hye Bin Son from the Department of Chemistry at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) have made a significant development in creating a gel electrolyte-based battery that is both stable and powerful. commercially viable. Their research was recently published in the international journal Small. Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in portable electronics and energy storage, including electric vehicles. However, the liquid electrolytes in these batteries pose a fire and explosion risk, prompting research into safer alternatives. One option is the…
The solar cell was treated with multi-elemental alloy, which reportedly helped eliminate defects in the kesterite absorber, increasing cell efficiency. China’s National Measurement and Test Center for PV Industry confirmed the results. June 24, 2024 Emiliano BelliniA group of researchers led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has fabricated a kesterite (CZTSSe) solar cell that achieved a maximum energy conversion efficiency of 14.6% and a certified efficiency of 14.2%.“The performance of kesterite solar cells is mainly limited by the charge loss caused by defects,” the study’s corresponding author Qingbo Meng said. pv magazine. “We believe that through a more…
An international research group has attempted for the first time to build a perovskite solar cell using ChatGPT. The experiment helped the scientists identify a range of materials for cell composition and the results were cells with higher energy conversion efficiency compared to that of reference cells built without the material suggested by the large language model. June 24, 2024 Lior KahanaResearchers led by China’s Nankai University investigated ChatGPT’s ability to generate hypotheses for materials science and identify untested molecules capable of reducing surface recombination and thereby increasing the efficiency of perovskite solar cells.“We’re still not close to the Jarvis…
Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” was one of the highest grossing music tours of all time with approximate proceeds exceeding US$1 billion. While this is a monumental feat, Taylor Swift also gained negative attention during the tour for her liberal use of private jets. It has been reported, however, that she, like many businesses across the world, buys carbon offsets to compensate for her emissions. Carbon offsets, otherwise known as carbon credits or emissions units, can be bought to offset emissions made by a person or business. Carbon credits are most typically used to offset greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. If a business…
The UK’s RECAI score for offshore wind technology was 59.5, the second highest globally after the US. Image: EY. The latest Renewable Energy Country Attraction Index (RECAI) from Ernst & Young (EY) has placed the UK battery energy storage systems (BESS) market third globally. The RECAI is a biannual report that ranks countries based on how attractive their renewable energy sector is for investment. The report places Britain sixth, a step forward partly attributed to increased government funding for the Contracts for Difference (CfD) programme, which received more than £1 billion in the most recent round of auctions (AR6). According…
In May 2024, high-efficiency panels, mainly glass-glass modules equipped with tunnel oxide passivated contact cells (TOPCon), started to converge in price with the mainstream offering, writes Martin Schachinger of pvXchange. Production volumes for these negatively doped ‘n-type’ cells and modules have ramped up in China, while the increasingly restrictive customs situation in the United States may already be having an impact. For the European market, increasingly lower prices for the latest module technology would indicate that demand would continue to rise without a number of disruptive factors. June 24, 2024 Martin Schachinger, pvXchange.comIn Europe, large stocks of modules will still…
The system will have a capacity of 360MW. Image: GridBeyond. Solar energy and energy storage developer Elements Green has secured planning permission for its Staythorpe battery energy storage system (BESS). The project will have a peak capacity of 360 MW, a storage capacity of 720 MWh and a planned operational life of 40 years. Elements Green has set a target date of 2026 for the system to be operational. The plans include several elements that aim to benefit the community. These include more than 12 hectares of land dedicated to creating woodlands and flower meadows, planting 129 trees and creating…
At Intersolar in Munich, pv magazine spoke with Jenny Chase, solar analyst at BloombergNEF, about incredibly low polysilicon prices, massive overcapacity and increasing consolidation. According to Chase, there will be enough polysilicon capacity to produce 1.1 TW of solar panels this year, but global demand for modules is expected to be around 585 GW. “That’s a pretty big delta,” she said, noting that the solar industry also needs to prepare for a range of “negative feedback mechanisms,” such as negative prices and excess solar energy. June 24, 2024 Jonathan Gifford Jenny Chase and pv magazine editor with the great Jonathan…
Researchers from Iraq have used computational fluid dynamics to simulate the operation of a 100W panel with ground cooling. The proposed technique was reportedly able to reduce panel temperatures by as much as 28% while increasing power generation by as much as 6.5%. June 24, 2024 Lior KahanaA group of Iraqi scientists have investigated the use of energy from the ground to cool PV panels and found that this solution could result in a significant reduction in the module’s operating temperature.The researchers simulated a setup with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) algorithms. CFD is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses…