Emiliano Bellini

A group of researchers have investigated the influence of the regulatory framework on supporting the expansion of ground-mounted PV plants close to transport routes as railways, highway and federal roads in Germany. Their analysis showed that most of the PV systems installed next to these routes are located on what was once agricultural land.

Korean researchers have used thermal and wet gravity separation (WGS) to separate EVA from reclaimed silicon powder in end-of-life PV modules with “minimal” chemical usage. The proposed technique provides silicon powder that could be reused as a raw material for upcycling into silicon nitride, silicon oxide, or silicon carbide.

Researchers in India have proposed a new set of techniques to mitigate total harmonic distortions during islanding events, which occur in distributed generation systems when there are disruptions in the power grid. Compared to conventional approaches, it reportedly achieves faster detection times by leveraging real-time data analytics and dynamically adjusting to changing grid conditions.

Developed by Spanish scientists, the proposed model is intended to reduce yield losses caused by the fact that north-south aligned single-axis trackers are often deployed on uneven east-west slopes.

Wider use of electric heat pumps to heat buildings creates a larger market for renewable energy, but also presents challenges, which can be met through building insulation and weatherization, cold climate heat pumps, thermal energy storage systems, and higher-voltage distribution grids, a report says.

A Belgian-Dutch research team has defined new design guidelines for photovoltaics integrated in buildings or infrastructures. The proposed approach, which was validated through two demonstators, supports the manufacturing of semi-fabricates for integrated photovoltaics applications by enabling effective communication between project developers and module producers.

New research shows all the challenges that smart inverters will have to face in the next decades, including cybersecurity issues and increasing manufacturing costs. The scientists explain that, despite the new opportunities that the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence are offering, their application may also result in an increasing number of cyber risks.

Jeffrey Saltman, partner at US intellectual property law firm Fisch Sigler LLP, recently spoke to pv magazine about the rising number of patent lawsuits between PV module manufacturers. He said this increase in litigation mainly stems from the industry’s convergence on tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) tech and noted that the number of lawsuits is likely to rise in the near future.

A European research team has sought to combine for the first time perovskite solar cell technology with textile ceramic in a novel building-integrated photovoltaic device. The result is a solar brick with potential for future commercialiation, according to its creators.

The Sweden-based heat pump provider said its new product is one of the slimmest and most compact system available on the market to date.