The new product is part of the company’s HiKu6 series based on 182mm wafers. Its temperature coefficient is 0.34% and its electrical characteristics are claimed to be compatible with the most common photovoltaic inverters thanks to current values below 14A.

Researchers in Spain have designed a pumped thermal energy storage system that uses supercritical carbon dioxide as a heat pump and a heat engine. The proposed system is claimed to achieve an efficiency of 80.26% and an LCOS of €0.116/kWh (AU$0.18/KWh)

Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a system that can be operated at a voltage of around 12V, with a 95% recovery rate for lost power after cleaning. The waterless system can be operated automatically via an electric motor.

The International Renewable Energy Agency has outlined a series of technical considerations for green hydrogen tracking systems. According to the document, a degree of flexibility should be taken into account in the short term to ensure that the nascent green hydrogen market can develop.

A Swedish research group has developed a device combining CIGS thin-film solar modules and an alkaline electrolyser based on a trimetallic cathodic catalyst made of nickel, molybdenum, and vanadium (NiMoV) and an anode made of nickel oxide (NiO). The electrolyser achieved an average solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency of 8.5% for stable operations during 100 hours.

The Korean manufacturer and the German research centre were able to improve the performance of their jointly developed tandem solar cell by almost one percentage point.

Researchers in Saudi Arabia have fabricated an integrated fully PV-powered system to extract fresh water from the atmosphere. The system uses excess heat from the solar modules to evaporate and condense water that can then be used to grow crops. Part of the water is also used to cool down the solar modules through an active cooling technique.

Scientists in Australia have developed an optimisation framework for building-integrated photovoltaics that allows the selection of design variables according to user preferences. Their model considers PV-related features such as tilt angle, window-to-wall ratio (WWR), PV placement, and PV product type, as well as objective functions and constraints such as the net present value and the payback period.

Two industry experts have provided analyses of the current polysilicon price scenario in a chat with pv magazine and both agreed that polysilicon demand is still growing faster than supply. The price may decrease starting from the second quarter and reach more reasonable levels by the end of the year.

British start-up Gravitricity secured funds from the UK Department of Business Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to build its second gravity-based storage project. The feasibility study is expected to be finalised by the end of this year.