Technology

German equipment supplier M10 and research institute Fraunhofer ISE will unveil a new prototype stringer for shingled module layouts at the Intersolar Europe trade show later this week. Employing an offset layout for the shingles, the approach promises a relative efficiency gain of up to 6%, compared to a conventional half-cell module.

With some of the world’s largest solar PV module manufacturers warning of looming panel shortages, Australian researchers have declared a new generation of cheap, sustainable and efficient solar cells is now a step closer.

Singapore-based VFlowTech has secured funds to scale up manufacturing of its vanadium redox flow batteries. The company currently offers three modular products that can be scaled to multi-megawatt-hour systems.

Vietnamese manufacturer Irex has announced a new glass-glass solar panel with a power output of 265 W and a power conversion efficiency of 18.1%.

On Monday, an Australian–Japanese consortium announced plans to potentially develop a $1 billion plus ‘low emissions’ hydrogen project in Western Australia. The announcement was preceded by a year of gas companies loudly declaring schemes to blend hydrogen into their pipelines. Clearly, many powerful Australian are putting their money on a like-for-like transition. pv magazine Australia spoke to hydrogen experts Andrew Horvath and Scott Hamilton about how they see the hydrogen wave evolving, and why a clean swap is unlikely.

The system has dimensions of 834×417×1,766 mm and weighs 205 kg including the design panel. It achieves an electrical efficiency of 56% and can be connected with a hot water storage unit.

Dansk Solenergi ApS has developed a 13.6 kg tile that can be used for both new buildings and building renovation. The device is currently being produced in Denmark, where the company operates a 40 MW line.

Converting all home appliances and cars to run on electricity could save Australian households $40 billion a year by 2028, according to a new report from thinktank Rewiring Australia, the work of Australian-American entrepreneur Saul Griffith.

A group of international researchers has observed how non-radiative charge recombination occurs in organic PV and claims to have identified a potential solution that could bring this solar tech closer to crystalline silicon in terms of power conversion efficiency.

Closed-loop pumped-hydro storage offers more chances to minimise environmental effects on water sources and overcomes the problem of finding suitable sites. According to an Australian research team, closed-loop systems could prevail on open-loop systems in the future and this trend is confirmed by another group of scientists from the United States.