research

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has launched a third round of its Solar Sunshot programme, offering up to AU$250 million (US$175 million) to companies that manufacture or demonstrate equipment for building large-scale solar PV power plants in Australia.

ARENA is providing up to AU$32.3m to set up factories for robots that install solar modules and drive foundation piles.

Researchers at UNSW and UtmoLight have achieved a certified stabilised efficiency of 23.5% for a large-area perovskite solar submodule.

US solar cell manufacturer ES Foundry is joining a research initiative led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology focused on strengthening US manufacturing.

Researchers from Georgia Tech have developed TOPCon solar cells that use copper paste with a maximum conversion efficiency of 24.3%.

UNSW has achieved a 12.4% efficiency and record voltage for CZTS solar cells by reducing defects through improved copper-sulphur bonding.

Australia's installed cost of utility-scale solar has not fallen at the pace required to reach the country's “ultra-low-cost solar” (UCLS) ambitions, despite continued progress in cell and module efficiency.

Halocell Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding with MSWay to support the scale-up of its roll-printed perovskite solar cells.

German solar energy research institute ISC Konstanz has appointed Dr Gerhard Mathiak as its head of its module department.

Developing more robust PV module recycling methods in Australia could be of economic benefit to the companies involved in recycling.