The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has committed AU$358 million (US$227.8 million) to new projects during the year from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023, while it has also assigned AU$41.5 million for ultra low cost solar, a new focus since last year.
Renewables are set to contribute 80% of new power capacity to 2030 in the stated policies scenario (STEPS), with solar PV alone accounting for more than half of it, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
City University of Hong Kong has announced an improvement of perovskite solar cells as a research team engineered a type of self-assembled monolayer and anchored it on a nickel oxide surface as a charge extraction layer.
LONGi has chosen to develop back-contact (BC) cells, again based on n-type technology, announcing plans to invest RMB3.92 billion (US$536 million) on production. Future cells will be based on the company’s HPBC ‘PRO’ high-efficiency technology, with roll-out expected to gradually commence from November 2024, reaching full capacity a year later.
Mining major Rio Tinto and Aboriginal energy partnership the Yindjibarndi Energy Corporation (YEC) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to pursue the development of solar and wind projects in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The average price of solar-grade polysilicon has dropped from the peak of RMB240,000-250,000/tonne (US$32,856-34,191) at the beginning of the year to RMB70,000-90,000/tonne.
