Solar Technology & PV R&D News

According to a new report by BNP Paribas Asset Management, renewables offer more advantages than simply mitigating climate change. Electricity is easier to transport than oil, and wind and solar electricity prices are much more stable than volatile oil prices. An analyst from the French bank argues that major producers will need to reduce oil prices below $20 to compete with clean energy in the transport sector.

New textile-based solar cells developed by Fraunhofer researchers, semitrailers could soon be producing the electricity needed to power cooling systems or other onboard equipment. In short, textile-based solar cells could soon be adding a whole new dimension to photovoltaics, complementing the use of conventional silicon-based solar cells.

Researchers at Siberian Federal University, together with colleagues from the Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm, Sweden), discovered new properties of material based on palladium, which can increase the performance of solar cells.

Scientists at the U.K.’s Faraday Institution have been able to observe degradation mechanisms at the lithium metal anode in a solid state battery, and made several discoveries which could improve the performance and design of future solid-state lithium-ion batteries.

In collaboration with Raptor Maps, FLIR has created a five-part series with four videos and a webinar on the use of thermal drones for solar inspection.

New York City-based solar partner Safari Energy has launched a new solar financial solution.

Hyundai rolled out a new version of its Sonata Hybrid, which would not normally be news around these parts but for the fact that it comes from the factory with a solar roof. It actually adds some zero emission range to the otherwise petrol-powered vehicle.

After my recent article about solar electric vehicles (EVs), I came across something I didn’t expect to see so fast. Since the prices of both used EVs and solar panels have fallen so much, the price is now where DIY tinkerers are willing to break out their Dremel tools and make a go of it themselves.

NASA has issued a $73 million dollar contract to Made In Space to 3D print spacecraft parts in orbit using Archinaut One

Car manufacturing giant Toyota Motor Corp is to begin trialling later this month a new version of its Prius hybrid car, this time with up to 860 watts of thin film solar that will be able to charge its “solar battery” as it drives, and add more than 50kms to its fossil fuel-free driving range.

Toyota is testing a new version of its solar panel topped Prius. But solar energy is unlikely to ever account for more than a fraction of the electricity required by vehicles

Still a prototype, the machine could one day help curb electricity and freshwater shortages

Scientists from the Skoltech Center for Energy Science and Technology, the Institute for Problems of Chemical Physics of RAS, and the Department of Chemistry of MSU presented solar cells based on conjugated polymers and fullerene derivatives, that demonstrated record-high radiation stability and withstand gamma radiation of >6,000 Gy raising hopes for their stable operation on the near-earth orbit during 10 years or even longer. The results of the study were published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.