China

China’s Longi Green Energy has set a new world record for crystalline silicon solar module efficiency with its independently developed hybrid passivated back contact (HPBC) 2.0 module, achieving a conversion efficiency of 25.4%, according to a certification report from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE).

Founder and former CEO of SwitchDin Dr Andrew Mears is launching his new venture, Tesseract ESS, at Melbourne’s All Energy today. The proposition expands on his previous technologies to deliver a ‘storage-as-a-service’ model focused on Australia’s C&I segment, providing battery and solar systems at $0 CAPEX to Australian farmers, manufacturers and other businesses. Pv magazine Australia spoke to Mears ahead of the launch.

Indonesia has struck a deal with Chinese battery industry heavyweight CATL to build a giga-scale battery cell manufacturing plant in the southeast Asian nation as it works to establish a battery and electric vehicle ecosystem.

The Chinese manufacturer said that its new series includes inverters with up to 15 kW of AC output. It supports a maximum input current of 20A.

JinkoSolar and Trina Solar have separately reported that on-field testing shows tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar modules outperform p-type back-contact PV modules in monthly power generation.

Solar cell technology innovator SunDrive Solar will join forces with Chinese PV manufacturing giant Trinasolar to develop “cutting-edge” manufacturing facilities and bring Australian-made solar panels to market at scale.

The Chinese PV manufacturer said its new module series has a power conversion efficiency of up to 24.8% and temperature coefficient is -0.26% per C.

China-headquartered solar and energy storage solutions company Trinasolar is developing a dual-use site with New Zealand-based engineering, procurement and construction company Kiwi Solar and commercial solar solutions company Trilect.

Scientists have designed a new building-integrated PV system that uses 30 mm of phase change material on each side of the wall. The array reportedly achieved superior thermoelectric coupling performance compared to reference BIPV systems without PCM.

Researchers at the University of New South Wales claim to have identified new TOPCon contact degradation mechanisms that are significantly influenced by the combination of ions and aluminum-silver paste compositions. The primary degradation mechanism was a significant increase in series resistance.