Magazine Archive 07/08 - 2023 | Beyond solar

Germany’s Solar Cooling Engineering GmbH (SCE) has developed a new solar-powered cooling technology based on a climate-friendly refrigerant. Through its PV Cool Kenya project, it has rolled out the technology to various industries in the agricultural sector, via a business model that aims to empower farmers and entrepreneurs while also training technicians in Kenya and relying on locally sourced materials for manufacturing.

Jason and Kara are Canadian overlanders from the “Everlanders” channel on YouTube. Overlanding is self-reliant travel on the road, driving to remote places across international borders. pv magazine caught up with Jason between legs of their latest road trip.

With a career built on going places few humans would dare – including the North Pole and South Pole and the seven highest mountain peaks – adventurer Sibusiso Vilane understands how important power can be in remote places. Having recently returned from the Everest Base camp, 20 years after he became the first black African to summit the world’s highest mountain, Vilane says his understanding of how solar can light up lives is only growing.

As the global North ponders e-mobility dilemmas such as how to source sufficient materials to meet electric car demand, fresh evidence has emerged of how solar can decarbonize transport and farming in Africa.

Chris Case, chief technology officer for Oxford PV, recently spoke with pv magazine about the company’s new 28.6%-efficient, commercial-sized, tandem solar cell, its US subsidiary, and plans for the future.

It is estimated that 10 GW of solar modules in Germany suffer from prematurely aging backsheets, with sites of all sizes affected. pv magazine Germany’s Cornelia Lichner looks at how to detect and repair such defects.

The show goes on! And we continue to highlight a few of the most intriguing entries from the 115 received so far. This time, the modules, manufacturing, BOS (balance-of-system) and BESS (battery energy storage system) categories are under the spotlight. And there’s still time to enter: We’ll be accepting entries again in August before our independent jurors start work on their final shortlists.

Below we present the latest batch of energy yield results from the outdoor test field at Xi’an, China. In this issue, the May 2023 results will be presented, alongside analysis from George Touloupas, senior director of technology and quality at CEA.

Extravagant promises have been made about the potential of the African continent to rocket-fuel its economies on the back of dirt-cheap clean power potential but can they be delivered?

With its critical-mineral riches, Australia is seeking to process and manufacture materials to capture more of the energy transition value chain. While logical, the path is already proving onerous and is hampered by the nation’s apparent allergy to boldness.