Organic photovoltaic (OPV) thin-film producer Heliatek has announced another collaboration with French energy firm, Engie, which is an investor in the BIPV company.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has teamed with PV manufacturing equipment specialist, SCHMID Group on lower cost BIPV modules that could reduce production costs by as much as 35%.
The Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has set a new R&D goal to develop a commercially viable thin-film-on-silicon tandem solar cell with 30% conversion efficiencies.
Tesla reported another major decline in its residential solar installations for the fourth quarter of 2017, while a supply shortage in its energy storage system ‘Powerwall’ has created a customer backlog of solar and storage installs of more than one year.
Multinational construction firm Skanska AB is to test semi-transparent perovskite solar modules from start-up Saule Technologies on commercial office buildings with the first applications planned to be installed in Poland in 2018.
The planned merger of Taiwan-based PV manufacturers Gintech Energy, Neo Solar Power (NSP) and Solartech Energy to be called United Renewable Energy Co (UREC) is to receive an investment from the Taiwan government, according to reports.
German investment company Aquila Capital has acquired four PV projects in central and southern Portugal that will boast a combined generation capacity of 170MW.
Solaria Corporation’s ‘PowerVision’ series of customized architectural solar (BIPV), power generating glass solutions for building facades that can enable net zero energy or meet ‘WELL’ building standards and are eligible for ‘LEED’ points in energy efficiency saving buildings and structures. PowerVision glass can be widely used in nearly every aspect of a building envelope beyond the rooftop to generate electricity.
Sweden-based PV manufacturer Midsummer has developed a flexible CIGS thin film solar cell process that provides a complete solution for BIPV/BAPV metal roof systems together with the Swedish Metal roofing company Clix Steel Profile AB that is certified for slopes as low as 5°.
US-based PV installer RGS Energy has struck an exclusive deal with Dow Chemical to exclusively sell its third generation (3.0) solar shingles under the ‘POWERHOUSE’ brand said to use conventional crystalline silicon solar cells rather than the original CIGS (Copper, Indium, Gallium, Selenide) thin-film substrates.
