Heterojunction (HJT) equipment manufacturer Maxwell Technologies and Australian solar technology start-up SunDrive have laid claim to a breakthrough in mass production HJT technology after recording a conversion efficiency of 26.07% with a commercial-size solar PV cell.
PV Evolution Labs (PVEL) has launched a crowdsourced testing programme that will work with solar investors, developers and asset owners to test inverters and does not require manufacturer participation.
Less rigidity during wind speeds and greater susceptibility to cracks under load pressures have been found within oversized solar modules during a new study.
Certification company Applus+ has completed its acquisition of Enertis, a Spain-based engineering, consulting and inspection services provider focused on the solar PV sector.
VDE has acquired a 70% stake in certification and testing company Renewable Energy Test Center (RETC), strengthening the technical organisation’s position in the renewables sector.
Despite the importance of reliability to the cost competitiveness of PV, large data sets enabling high-level investigation of the technology’s performance in the field are relatively scarce. Dirk C. Jordan, Chris Deline, Bill Marion and Teresa Barnes of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Mark Bolinger of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study a unique data set of 100,000 PV systems in the US, drawing out tips for better reliability that have relevance to other parts of the world.
SPONSORED: The Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI), part of Hamad bin Khalifa University, is ramping up its activities in solar research and testing capabilities for desert environments, and launching a new energy, water and environment nexus conference later this year.
The solar industry gets to grips with the bewildering array of new module technologies at the second edition of the PV ModuleTech event in Penang, Malaysia. The conference raised a huge number of questions such as how to evaluate bifacial technology and whether it might rise faster than predicted, how long p-type multicrystalline has left in the running and the perennial issue of quality, to name a few.
PV Tech caught up with Daniel Chang, technical director at major China-based PV manufacturer JinkoSolar, to discuss the performance of installed PERC products, new testing regimes, what consumers are asking for and how to release new modules to market.
