l'Actualité du Solaire

R&D in brief: CITCEA card; Fraunhofer screen printing; Perovskite without loss; CGIS at 19.6%.

The technology transfer centre CITCEA, within the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), has developed a way to manage excess energy in photovoltaic installations. The power electronics developed would be capable of combining different storage technologies in a single electronic board. It enhances a storage system to provide power quality and auxiliary services in low-voltage networks. It can be connected to the power grid. It manages the energy produced by a photovoltaic system thanks to a set of converters and batteries, which make the consumption and injection of surplus solar energy into the grid more efficient. This technology provides the maintenance, flexibility, efficiency, fault tolerance, scalability, reliability and controllability necessary to operate correctly on the grid.

Algorithms are used to forecast daily energy production and demand. They then plan the charging and discharging of batteries.

"This technology will facilitate the local consumption of renewable energy production and avoid the need to transport the electricity produced far from consumption, contributing to a much more efficient energy system," said CITCEA.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/03/04/new-power-electronic-device-to-manage-surplus-solar-power/

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Scientists at the Fraunhofer ISE have developed a model to simulate different screen printing configurations in the metallisation of solar cells. The model provides a comparable "screen printing utility index" value. It can predict the usefulness of different architectures in printing equipment based on the properties of a given silver paste. This will help the photovoltaic industry to reduce the amount of silver needed to manufacture silicon cells.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/03/05/simulating-pvs-silver-future/

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Scientists at the University of North Carolina have developed a perovskite solar cell with an efficiency of 23.2% by adding benzylhydrazine hydrochloride (BHC) as a reducing agent for iodine (I) in precursor solutions such as methylammonium iodide (MAI) and formamidinium iodide (FAI).

Preventing the degradation of perovskite precursor solutions is just as important as the encapsulation of devices after manufacture. Large areas of perovskite panels are typically air fabricated and perovskite precursor inks are typically prepared in large quantities and stored for days or months.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/03/04/inverted-blade-coated-perovskite-cell-with-23-2-efficiency/

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The German Avancis, a subsidiary of the Chinese CNBM, achieved an efficiency of 19.6% with a CIGS panel. This result was confirmed by the NREL. The previous record for this size and technology was 19.2%.

This is due to the improved homogeneity of the CIGS forming process, optimal co-ordination of the properties of the different functional layers and a reduction in reflection losses.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/03/04/avancis-claims-19-64-efficiency-for-cigs-module/

PV Magazine of 4 March 2021