Technology and R&D

The innovative process that transforms quartz into solar grade metal in one-step is being developed by PyroGenesis Canada, and has achieved encouraging purity levels as high as 99.97% during the first series of testing.

A tough week of tariff cuts and bankruptcies for the solar industry, although a few success stories from California, India and the Middle East serve to lighten the mood. The strange story of a potential lifeline for SunEdison, as well Solar’s mention in the first U.S. Presidential debate, also make for interesting developments.

Project Sunroof, an initiative led by Google, has been announced as one of 13 winners of the United Nations ‘Momentum for Change’ climate change award, by enabling tens of millions of Americans to evaluate the solar potential of their home with just the click of a button, showing them both monetary savings and environmental impact.

Scientists from three research groups in Germany and Belgium have produced a perovskite/CIGS PV mini module with a conversion efficiency of 17.8%. The result marks the first time that the efficiency of a perovskite/CIGS stack PV module has surpassed that of perovskite and CIGS semiconductors. The researchers note that the technology could achieve efficiencies exceeding 25%, “in the next years.”

German PV module manufacturer Avancis has signed a strategic partnership with French solar tech company Sunpartner Technologies to incorporate its CIGS thin-film PV cells into Sunpartner’s energy generating glass.

The German developer of organic PV materials has raised a sizable amount of funding to finance its manufacturing expansion and worldwide market development.

The encouraging news that renewables now account for over 30% of global installed power generation capacity was part of a World Energy Council report, which highlighted the success of solar PV and wind energy, and set out recommendations for increased renewable energy penetration.

This year’s SPI trade show comes at a time of dynamic growth for the solar industry and an increasing integration of solar into energy management. But not all the news is good.

After a short-lived collaboration, Europe’s two major solar events will be hosted four months apart in 2017, with EU PVSEC opting to travel to Amsterdam for its world leading PV solar energy conference.

The Japanese tech company broke the existing record with an impressive efficiency of 26.33% – the first time that 26% has been breached – during a NEDO project, which Kaneka Corporation hopes will lead the solar industry towards lower power generation costs.