For his YouTube channel Undecided with Matt Ferrell, the renewables youtuber goes for a deep dive of the latest and upcoming developments in perovskites and tandem solar cells:
The system that the project partners are developing is intended to simplify the use of facades for photovoltaics. Part of the solution will also be published as a VDI guideline.
Photovoltaic modules based on perovskite silicon tandem solar cells have the potential to achieve higher efficiencies than today's silicon modules. A research team at Fraunhofer ISE has now produced a module with an efficiency of 25 per cent using perovskite silicon tandem solar cells from Oxford PV.
Researchers have achieved a three per cent increase in the yield of photovoltaic modules by making many small improvements to components and the manufacturing process. With larger and divided solar cells in the module, the power density could be increased by a further three per cent.
Fraunhofer ISE says that it has developed the world's first string inverter for large power plants that feeds into the medium voltage. For photovoltaics, this would mean enormous cost and resource savings for passive components and cables.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have have integrated solar cells into the standard sheet metal hood of a regular passenger car. Coupled with the re- search institute’s MorphoColor technology, the solar-active surface can be color-matched to that of the vehicle.
Research institutes worldwide are working on improving the efficiency and scalability of organic photovoltaics. ISE scientists could now further increase their own world record.
Tandem solar cells made from a combination of perovskites and silicon promise efficiencies of over 30 per cent. Research laboratories around the world regularly announce new record values. However, these records are realised on surfaces that are smaller by a factor of 400 than the current wafer size of a solar cell. Researchers at Fraunhofer ISE want to change this.
With a new solar simulator, it is now possible to precisely determine the output of tandem solar cells. In a first step, the developers designed the system for perovskite-silicon tandems.
The efficiency was confirmed by Fraunhofer ISE. The cell was manufactured at the factory in Brandenburg an der Havel, eastern Germany. There, Oxford PV is researching new types of perovskite stack cells.
The Institute was also involved in the development of an IEC standard for the testing of arc detectors. The modular test rig is able to perform the tests of the inverters according to this standard.
On the road in all weathers: The cycle path near the football stadium in Freiburg, Germany has now been covered with glass-glass modules over a length of 300 metres. The system has an output of 287 kilowatt hours and generates around 280 megawatt hours of solar power per year.
For BIPV applications, coloured PV modules are an attractive alternative to the conventional black and blue ones. The Swiss module manufacturer Megasol Energie is now licensing the Fraunhofer ISE-developed Morphocolor technology for its modules.
The structured facade elements collect solar heat and transfer it to the heat pump circuit. In this way, they can raise the flow temperature for heat pumps.
In order to meet the Paris climate targets, the expansion of solar power capacity must increase continuously over the next few years. The development of decentralised production capacities must also be accelerated.
In a study, researchers from the IÖW and the HSK in Kehl examined agriphotovoltaics economically, ecologically and legally. There are still hurdles. But above all, the technology offers plenty of opportunities for farmers.
To increase the efficiency of concentrating solar thermal power plants, researchers have found a solution to avoid heat loss. They also use a more compact design and a new heat transfer medium.
A gymnasium roof in Eppingen shows how a solar system can discreetly disappear into the building envelope. The BIPV system has 66 kilowatts and produces at least 90 per cent of the electricity generated by a conventional solar power system with uncoated glass.
Fraunhofer ISE handed over a solar plant for drying and ice production to local fishermen and farmers in Kenya.
With agri-PV, food and solar power are produced simultaneously on agricultural land. The amendment to the German Renewable Energy Sources Act 2023 generally promotes the technology. However, some corrections are needed quickly to accelerate the promotion of this innovative technology.
Most components within the photovoltaic supply chain are currently manufactured in China. The country has 96 per cent of the global production capacity for silicon wafers. In order to reduce dependencies, representatives of the European solar industry are now demanding action from European policymakers.
In order to produce even more efficient solar cells and modules in the future, Meyer Burger has now brought other partners on board: In a consortium with CSEM from Switzerland, the Helmholtz Centre Berlin, Fraunhofer ISE and the University of Stuttgart, industrial cells with efficiencies of more than 30 per cent are to be produced.
Agrivoltaics (Agri-PV) allows farmers to make double use of their cultivated land: Now the updated agrivoltaics-guideline of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE is available in English.
New manufacturing processes promise higher throughput in the production of solar cells. To this end, researchers at Fraunhofer ISE have developed a concept for a completely new production line.
The PV manufacturing chain in Europe is almost entirely dependent from China. There are first attempts for a renaissance of European PV production. But not all national governments recognize its strategic importance. Jochen Rentsch, Fraunhofer-ISE, comments in an interview.
