SunPower sets new solar efficiency record
US company SunPower achieved an efficiency of 24.1% for a module using silicon cells, which is just the latest in a number of efficiency records for solar technology, showing that the modules are moving in the right direction.
Solar Impulse completes historic flight across the Atlantic
Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard landed the solar-powered plane in Seville on Thursday morning, achieving one of the most iconic stretches on the journey, and getting one step closer to completing the mission to fly around the world using nothing but solar energy.
Intersolar Awards 2016: Five winners of Outstanding Solar Projects
The award this year was a consolidation of various awards from previous years, with five winners taking home prizes. A theme for the winners was the projects social impacts on the communities that benefit from them.
PV innovations helping to push the French market forward
Philippe Malbranche, Directeur Général of the French solar research institute INES, explains why his organization is hosting a workshop on innovations from France. The varying innovations take part in the whole PV value chain, from oxygen measuring in the wafering process, to developing solar plants with integrated storage for French oversea territories.
Hanwha Q Cells sets 19.5% efficiency record for standard 301W multicrystalline module
Verified by Fraunhofer ISE CalLab, the rating of 19.5% efficiency for a standard module of 1,670 x 1,000 mm2 sets a new world record for multicrystalline panels; Hanwha achieved the result using its Q.ANTUM cells with four busbars.
EUPVSEC opens with rallying call to Europe's solar industry
This morning EUPVSEC kicked off at the International Conference Center in Munich. Some 6,500 authors and co-authors from 88 countries had submitted their abstracts for presentation at the week-long event. This year for the first time EUPVSEC is colocated with Intersolar.
Overheating and incompatible plug connectors
Black sheep I: In a Bavarian solar farm, experts discovered overheated junction boxes after commissioning and, later, overheated plug connectors as well.
The pv magazine weekly news digest
In a week shaped by three pivotal reports that each forecast a bright future for solar, there was still a reminder of the industry’s unforgiving landscape for companies that fail to move with the times, and markets.
Energy storage market to grow to USD250 billion by 2040
This is the forecast in Bloomberg New Energy Finances New Energy Outlook 2016 report, which expects to see the price for energy storage systems significantly drop, as batteries will help to wean power dependency away from large-scale fossil fuel plants.
EPFL achieves 19.6% perovskite efficiency using vacuum coating
Switzerland’s Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) has used vacuum coating to deposit and grow a perovskite semiconductor layer, resulting in a 19.6% efficient cell. Researchers have applied a mild vacuum for 20 seconds to achieve the result, which is a low-temperature process.
