Tag Archives: Solar Cell

Renewable Energy Policies in a Time of Transition

Posted on February 9, 2021 by Now.Solar

ABOUT IRENAThe International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is an intergovernmental or ganisation that supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future, and serves as the principal platform for international co-operation, a centre of excellence, and a repository of … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, China, Electric and Hybrid Vehicles, Energy Efficiency, Energy Storage, Fossil Fuel, Fuel Cells, Grid Interactive Distributed Solar Energy Systems, Hydro, India, Power Generation, Renewable Energy Certificates, Renewables, Solar, Solar PV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Renewable energy and climate pledges: Five years after the Paris Agreement

Posted on February 3, 2021 by Now.Solar

With the adoption of the Paris Agreement on 12 December 2015, nearly all countries around the world agreed to keep the rise in the average global temperature well below 2 degrees Celsius (°C) this century compared to pre-industrial levels, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Electric and Hybrid Vehicles, Energy Minister, Energy Storage, Grid Interactive Distributed Solar Energy Systems, Hydro, Mini Grid, Off-grid, Power Generation, Renewable Energy Certificates, Renewables, Solar, solar water heating | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Plastic Solar Cells Offer Bright Future

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

  Energy consumption is growing rapidly in the 21st century, with rising energy costs and sustainability issues greatly impacting the quality of human life. Harvesting energy directly from sunlight to generate electricity using photovoltaic technologies is considered to be one … Continue reading →

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Stacked Solar Cells Can Handle Energy Of 70,000 Suns, currently at 45% efficiency

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

With a new connection, the overall efficiency of solar energy devices, including GaAs based ones, can reduce the cost of solar energy production North Carolina State University researchers have come up with a new technique for improving the connections between … Continue reading →

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NPD Solarbuzz: Idled solar cell capacity in India belies bigger issues

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Market research firm, NPD Solarbuzz reports that a significant amount of crystalline-silicon solar cell production in India lays idle, despite almost US$0.5 billion of investment in solar cell equipment between 2006 and 2012. The reason for the idled capacity was … Continue reading →

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First Solar and China Sunergy urge Indian government to drop dumping investigation

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

U.S. and Chinese manufacturers claim that India’s government is acting beyond the scope of its powers in a dumping probe they describe as “flawed.” An Indian investigation into claims that U.S., European, Chinese, Malaysian and Japanese PV manufacturers dumped solar cells … Continue reading →

Posted in Anti-Dumping, Cells & Modules, Crystalline, PV, Renewables, Solar, Thin Film | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Doping boosts efficiency of CdTe cell: Empa study

Posted on August 18, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Scientists at the Empa Institute in Switzerland claim to have achieved 11.5% conversion efficiency for a CdTe solar cell by doping it with copper. The researchers improved on previous results of around 8% by using high-vacuum copper evaporation on substrate … Continue reading →

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India May Expand Solar Dumping Probe to EU, Japan Cells – All parties must submit written statements by July 25, and defendants have until Aug. 2 to respond

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Indian clean-energy companies that claim manufacturers in the U.S. and China dumped solar cells below cost on the market are seeking to extend their case to include imports from Europe and Japan. Indosolar Ltd. (ISLR), Jupiter Solar Power Ltd. and … Continue reading →

Posted in Anti Dumping Duty, Cells & Modules, PV, Renewables, Solar | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Date set for start of India’s solar anti-dumping investigation

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

The Indian government has announced a date for a preliminary hearing for its investigation into anti-dumping allegations against PV module manufacturers in China, Taiwan, USA and Malaysia. The investigation was announced last year following a petition by the Solar Manufacturers Association, representing … Continue reading →

Posted in Anti Dumping Duty, Cells & Modules, Crystalline, PV, Renewables, Solar, Solar Policy, Thin Film | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Are Super-Thin Solar Cells The Future? New Solar Cells Developed That Are Pound For Pound Up To 1000 Times More Powerful Than Conventional Photovoltaics

Posted on June 29, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

The general drive in the solar energy technology industry has been towards the development of higher solar cell efficiencies and lowered manufacturing costs, but are there other avenues of improvement worth exploring? Such as the development of ultra-thin, ultra-lightweight solar … Continue reading →

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NREL lastest Cell Efficiencies right upto 44%

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan
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43.6 % Four-Junction Solar Cell under Concentrated Sunlight New Manufacturing Technologies allow for Higher Efficiencies

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Image of a solar cell wafer with four-junction concentrator cells and test structures. ©Fraunhofer ISE In an ambitious industry project with the French company Soitec, Fraunhofer ISE is currently developing a new generation of multi-junction solar cells with efficiency potential … Continue reading →

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Solar power producers oppose any anti-dumping duty on imported gears

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

(In the last batch of the projects…) Ten solar power producers, including Jackson Ltd, Vikram Solar, Symphony Vyapar Pvt Ltd and Lexicon Vanijya Pvt Ltd have written to the ministry of new and renewable energy ( MNRE) saying imposition of … Continue reading →

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Sharp adds 0.2% efficiency to record triple-junction InGaAs solar cell

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

The latest efficiency improvement was due to further indium, gallium, and arsenide material combination optimization that improved light absorption across the various wavelengths. Further tweaks of its triple-junction InGaAs InGaAs (indium gallium arsenide) solar cell have led to Sharp reporting … Continue reading →

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Amonix CPV system breaks peak efficiency record

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Amonix CPV module has set a new peak efficiency world record. Image: Amonix. Concentrated PV (CPV) manufacturer Amonix claims to have converted a record 36% of sunlight into energy in a module trial at the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory … Continue reading →

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Spectrolab breaks world record with 37.8% cell efficiency

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Spectrolab, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company, is a manufacturer of high-efficiency multi-junction space solar cells and panels. Image: Boeing Manufacturer of space solar cells and panels Spectrolab has announced a 37.8% efficiency rate for its multi-junction solar … Continue reading →

Posted in Cells & Modules, PV | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

First Solar to manufacture copper-based crystalline silicon solar cells

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

TetraSun’s cell concept is based on what the company has termed “a novel surface passivation technology”. It enables the use of 40um wide copper electrodes instead of screen-printed silver metallization. Without demanding special equipment for the manufacturing process, cell Voc … Continue reading →

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Trees used to create recyclable efficient Solar Cell

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Solar cells are just like leaves, capturing the sunlight and turning it into energy. It’s fitting that they can now be made partially from trees. Georgia Institute of Technology and Purdue University researchers have developed efficient solar cells using natural … Continue reading →

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Struggles continue for thin film solar startups, Nanosolar latest with layoffs

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Once hot thin film solar startup Nanosolar has done a round of layoffs — which could be substantial — following a major down round last year. So goes the trend of the once promising next-gen solar panel maker startups. Super … Continue reading →

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R&D spending analysis of top 10 PV module manufacturers

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Using the latest market leader rankings from Solarbuzz for 2012, we plotted the annual spending on R&D of the top 10 ranked companies (see figure 1), since 2007. Looking at chart 2 it is immediately apparent that there is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Crystalline, PV, Renewables, Rooftop, Rural Lighting, Solar, Thin Film | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

70% Efficient Solar Cells Possible Using Silicon BC8

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Researchers at the University of California (UC), Davis state an exotic form of silicon could produce major gains in solar cell efficiency. When a particle of light hits a silicon crystal, it generates a negatively charged electron and a positively … Continue reading →

Posted in Crystalline, PV, Solar | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Empa achieves record 20.4% efficiency for flexible thin film

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Scientists at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, have developed thin film solar cells on flexible polymer foils with a new record efficiency of 20.4% for converting sunlight into electricity. Empa said the cells are based … Continue reading →

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First all-carbon solar cell

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Ritesh Pothan

              Enlarge This shows the new all-carbon solar cell consists of a photoactive layer, which absorbs sunlight, sandwiched between two electrodes. Credit: Mark Shwartz / Stanford University (Phys.org)—Stanford University scientists have built the first … Continue reading →

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Solar Junction achieves world record solar cell conversion efficiency of 44%

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Ritesh Pothan

Solar Junction CPV wafer Solar Junction (San Jose, California, U.S.) has announced a new world-record conversion efficiency of 44% for a production-ready solar photovoltaic (PV) cell using its multi-junction technology. The measurement of 44% conversion efficiency at 947 suns was … Continue reading →

Posted in PV, Renewables, Solar | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments