The Philippines’ Department of Energy hopes to allocate 1,260 MW of solar through the procurement exercise.

Researchers in Portugal have tested how vanadium redox flow batteries can be integrated with rooftop PV to balance the system load to ensure firm power output. They proposed a 5 kW/60 kWh battery configuration for a 6.7 kW building-integrated PV microgrid. According to their findings, the battery can be used in different energy management strategy scenarios to better complement solar photovoltaic generation.

U.S. researchers have investigated how rooftop PV systems may affect air and building temperature in urban environments and, conversely, how the urban heat island (UHI) effect may have a negative impact on PV system performance. Their work considered urban air temperature, urban air pollution, the partial shading of the PV system, soiling, building heating and cooling loads, and outdoor shade.

Designed by Chinese provider Mibet, the mounting structure can be used for different crop types. The system offers a tilt angle of up to 30 degrees and can host either framed or frameless solar modules.

An international research team has investigated how solar could be combined with thermoelectric coolers (TECs), which are small solid-state heat pumps used either for heating or for cooling. A system was built with six solar panels, an air duct system, four batteries, a charge controller, TECs, an inverter, heat sinks, a test chamber, and condenser fans.

Scientists in Australia have analysed the state-of-the-art of all gettering technologies used in the solar industry. This technique, which is aimed at reducing defects in wafer manufacturing, may become more important in the future, as cell efficiencies increase and become increasingly sensitive to traces of metallic impurities.

Growatt’s new AXE LV battery covers a wide range of capacities, from 5kWh to 400kWh, and can support off-grid systems with power outputs of 3kW to 30kW.

According to Asia Europe Clean Energy (Solar) Advisory (AECEA), this huge capacity may not be met by actual demand in the global market. Furthermore, the consultancy reveals that solar module prices should reach a price level of up to RMB 1.75 (US$028)/W by the second half of the year, and that in 2021 new PV additions totalled 53 GW with more than half of this capacity being delivered by distributed generation.

TOPCon solar cells are on their way to fully compete with PERC solar products, according to recent research from Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE. Efficiency gains for the TOPCon concept, however, are necessary to help it capture more market share, as production costs remain higher than those for PERC tech. A series of cost-driven strategies to make TOPCon modules advance were outlined in the study.

Called the 1+X modular inverter, the new product can be deployed, by combining eight units, to reach a power of 8.8MW. It also features a DC/ESS interface for the connection of storage energy systems.