Substantial flows of investment into renewables have brought about significant
reductions in the cost of delivered energy, while simultaneously increasing the penetration
of renewables in most markets. These developments herald the rise of Renewables ‘2.0’, a
post-subsidy world for investment in renewable energy. Duncan Ritchie and Kornelia Stycz of
Apricum explore the opportunities in corporate PPAs and hybrid renewable energy systems in the
context of the Renewables 2.0 energy transition
For PV to continue competing with alternative energy sources, the cost of financing solar
projects must fall. David Feldman, Rebecca Jones-Albertus and Robert Margolis of the US National
Renewable Energy Laboratory explore ways in which research and development can boost PV
competitiveness
Following years of frantic consolidation, the UK’s secondary solar market has
begun to slow. Liam Stoker analyses what the future holds in store for the once-thriving market, and
what’s next for long-term asset holders
Solar in the Middle East and North Africa continues to flourish, with utility projects leading
the way. As Paul Mansouri and Angela Croker of Norton Rose Fulbright write, the development of
battery storage technology and a growing interest among large corporates in solar as an energy
source will help the market to continue growing
Concerns over Vietnam’s power
purchase agreement have not prevented
a huge number of project deals being
signed. Tom Kenning weighs up
what progress is being
made in putting one
of Southeast Asia’s
most promising solar
markets on the map
Meet the world’s largest dedicated solar inverter company as it bears the fruits of its R&D origins.
In this special collaboration between PV Tech and Sungrow, we’ll investigate the company’s roots, its technology, its stable finances and its all-encompassing product line up covering every solar application.
We’ll take a deep dive, no pun intended, into what many are calling the third pillar of PV, floating solar. Mark Osborne will assess the market for floating solar and where Sungrow’s place in this emerging sector lies in the wake of its research and development efforts.
Together with Sungrow, we’ll also demonstrate the company’s product selection philosophy and meet some of the key customers already putting Sungrow at the heart of their work. We’ll look at how Sungrow is matching the market’s requirements, be it for central or string inverters or even the inclusion of energy storage.
In an exclusive preview of a forthcoming paper in PV Tech Power, LONGi Solar and Huawei present their analysis from a bifacial project in the Middle East.
Bifacial PV promises a significant reduction in the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for PV systems, which, compared with efficiency improvements at the cell level, is still achievable with comparatively moderate effort. Almost all major PV module suppliers have bifacial modules in their product portfolios or have announced production. This paper gives an overview of the currently available bifacial modules and cell technologies and the performance of these modules. Special attention is given to the cells and the layout of the modules, including light trapping and interconnection technologies, the encapsulation materials and the adapted mounting solutions. Finally, an outlook is given on the basis of the compiled information.
In the evolution towards higher cell efficiencies, new cell concepts (twosided and back contacted) have been introduced and for each of these concepts, new module materials and interconnection technologies have to be developed to fulfil all the demands of a good end product in terms of lowest costs, highest yield and power and above all superior quality (reliability and durability). There is no single module concept that fits all cell concepts or module application type so existing module concepts need to be adapted or innovative module technologies are required to fit the aforementioned requirements. This paper provides an overview summarizing the recent developments of integrated cell to module manufacturing approaches such as multi-busbar, multi-wire, half-cell and shingling technologies for two-side contacted cells and advanced soldering, woven fabric and foil based module technologies for back contacted cells aiming for the highest power outputs, lowest costs and longest lifetimes.
The EU Horizon Sharc25 project has provided deep insights into highly efficient Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) thin-film solar cells fabricated by lowand high-temperature co-evaporation using advanced characterization methods, analytical tools, device simulation, and density functional theory modelling. This complementary approach led to a continuous knowledgedriven development and improvement of the CIGSe absorber. Based on optimized chemical composition, profiles, and alkali metal post-deposition treatments (PDT) using KF, RbF, and CsF, the CIGSe cell efficiency could be substantially increased to a record value of 22.6%. Due to additional modifications at the absorber/emitter (replacement of standard buffer system by a combination of thin CdS and TiO2) and back contact/ absorber (introduction of Al back reflector in combination with InZnO diffusion barrier) interfaces, in particular the short-circuit current could be increased. Furthermore, passivation layers in combination with point contact schemes at the CIGSe front and back side were developed and are still under investigation.
