perovskite

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) launched its new investment plan prioritising how to use US$800 million worth of funds in the next few years, with solar PV innovation one of the main new areas of focus.

China-based thin-film PV firm Hangzhou Microquanta Semiconductor has claimed a new efficiency record for perovskite mini-modules of 15.24%, certified by Newport PV Lab in Montana, US.

Thin film perovskite solar cell developer Dyesol has had an application granted by the Australian government for a AUD$2.5 million (US$1.9 million) in funding for an 18 month project to develop a large-area on glass product prototype that would coincide with the company establishing pilot line production in Australia.

Research at the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP), based at The University of New South Wales (UNSW) has reported a 12.1% efficiency rating for a 16 cm2 perovskite solar cell, partially funded by Suntech and Trina Solar and AUD$3.6 million in funding through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s (ARENA).

UK-based perovskite specialist Oxford PV has signed a joint development agreement (JDA) with a global manufacturer of solar cells and modules.

Perovskite start-up Oxford PV is developing a pilot-line in Germany that will bring its cells closer to commercialisation.

European scientists have teamed from imec, KIT and ZSW to fabricate a thin-film solar module (lab) stack made up of perovskite and Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS) with a conversion efficiency of 17.8%, which surpasses the highest efficiencies of separate perovskite and CIGS modules.

TCAD and EDA software provider Silvaco Japan Co is providing the Segawa Laboratory at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo with its device simulator, Atlas for analyzing hysteresis phenomena in perovskite solar cells.

Imec and its Solliance partners have fabricated for the first time a semi-transparent perovskite PV-module, achieving power conversion efficiencies up to 12%, a world-best achievement, according to the R&D group.

Everyone in the industry knows the price of solar continues to fall in most global sectors, inching closer to – or reaching – parity with other energy sources, both renewable and carbonaceous. But when a well-respected market researcher says prices are falling in real time in some regions, that attention-grabbing statement is not something one usually hears in any timeline.