fraunhofer ise

PV research institute Fraunhofer ISE has reported a new efficiency record of 22.3% for a multi-junction solar cell made of silicon and III-V semiconductor materials using a direct epitaxy process developed with tool supplier AIXTRON.

A new organisation aimed at representing the entire PV manufacturing value chain in Europe, from materials and module manufacturers to equipment providers and institutions, is being planned for launch in 2019.

Perovskite solar cell developer Oxford Photovoltaics (PV) has been awarded a €2.8 million grant from the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy to prepare perovskite-silicon solar cells for high-volume manufacturing.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has teamed with PV manufacturing equipment specialist, SCHMID Group on lower cost BIPV modules that could reduce production costs by as much as 35%.

PV Tech recently met up with Christian Buchner - Vice President of the Photovoltaics BU at leading PV equipment supplier SCHMID Group - ahead of the forthcoming PV CellTech 2018 meeting in Penang, Malaysia on 13-14 March 2018, an event SCHMID has been strongly supporting for the past few years.

What’s happened since First Solar indefinitely postponed an MVDC transition?

Swiss-based PV manufacturing equipment specialist INDEOtec SA has successfully gained tool acceptance for its PECVD process tools from both Fraunhofer ISE and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia for next-generation heterojunction solar cells.

A research project to identify solar cell conversion losses and provide commercial solutions, which was initiated in December 2017 by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), has attracted ‘Silicon Module Super League (SMSL) leader JinkoSolar.

The conflict of agricultural land use for solar power plants could be a thing of the past after a science driven agrophotovoltaics (APV) pilot project near Lake Constance in Germany, led by Fraunhofer ISE has proved the viability of dual land use.

German-based PV module manufacturer Heckert Solar GmbH said that it had been one of the pioneers using Fraunhofer ISE’s new software that helps reduce cell-to-module losses that have led to module performance gains.