Solar energy news and discussion

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Global solar installations may hit 350.6 GW in 2023, says TrendForce
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2023/02/16/ ... um=twitter
TrendForce says solar demand could grow by more than 53.4% this year due to lower module prices and delayed projects from 2021 and 2022 that are now going online. China will be the largest market this year with 148.9 GW, followed by the United States with 40.5 GW, India with 17.2 GW, Brazil with 14.2 GW, Germany with 11.8 GW, Spain with 11.4 GW, and Japan with 8 GW.
February 16, 2023 Emiliano Bellini

The world could potentially install 350.6 GW of PV systems this year, according to new estimates from Taiwanese market research firm TrendForce. If confirmed, the growth would represent a 53.4% increase compared to 2022, when new global solar additions hit 228.5 GW.

This year, solar demand will be particularly strong due to decreasing PV panel prices. In addition, a high number of projects that were delayed in 2021 and 2022 for supply chain issues are now gradually going online, said TrendForce.

The Asia-Pacific region is expected to account for most of the installed capacity this year, with around 202.5 GW of projected demand. China, Malaysia, and the Philippines will lead this growth.

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China now has enough wind and solar to power every home . Installed a combined 125GW of new wind and solar capacity in 2022, bringing its total cumulative renewable energy capacity to over 1,200GW.

China now has enough wind and solar to power every home .

Installed a combined 125GW of new wind and solar capacity in 2022, bringing its total cumulative renewable energy capacity to over

1,200GW. https://reneweconomy.com.au/china-now-h ... ever-home/

[wjfox]

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Korean researchers create a perovskite solar cell with record efficiency
Byjane adomin
March 3, 2023
https://ustrend.us/news/korean-research ... fficiency/
Write a Comment on Korean researchers create a perovskite solar cell with record efficiency
3 min read

Korean researchers create a perovskite solar cell with record efficiency

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are a type of emerging solar cell that uses a perovskite structure crystalline semiconductor as a photoactive layer to convert sunlight into electricity.
perovskite solar cell

Since their discovery in 2009, PSCs have experienced a rapid improvement in their efficiency, quickly outperforming conventional silicon solar cells in terms of solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency.

Recently, a research team led by Professor Sang Il Seok of the Department of Energy and Chemical Engineering at the National University of Science and Technology (UNIST) has presented a new method and principle for controlling the crystallinity of photoactive layer semiconductors of perovskite and has developed a technology to manufacture high-efficiency PSCs.
Record conversion efficiency

As a result of their work, they have achieved a record efficiency of 26.08%, surpassing the efficiency of silicon solar cells.

An achievement that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has recognized as the best efficiency in the world and that was announced on February 16 in the most prestigious scientific journal in the world, Nature.

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Floating solar panels could provide over a third of global electricity
Panels on reservoirs can keep enough water for 300 million people from evaporating.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/03 ... ectricity/
John Timmer - 3/13/2023, 12:04 PM
A boat passes by rows of floating solar panels.

The cost of solar power has dropped dramatically over the past decade, making it the cheapest source of electricity in much of the world. Clearly, that can mean cheaper power. But it also means that we can potentially install panels in places that would otherwise be too expensive and still produce power profitably.

One of the more intriguing options is to place the panels above artificial bodies of water, either floating or suspended on cables. While more expensive than land-based installs, this creates a win-win: the panels limit the evaporation of water, and the water cools the panels, allowing them to operate more efficiently in warm climates.

While the potential of floating solar has been examined in a number of places, a group of researchers has now done a global analysis and find that it's huge. Even if we limit installs to a fraction of the surface of existing reservoirs, floating panels could generate nearly 10,000 TeraWatt-hours per year, while keeping over 100 cubic kilometers of water from evaporating.
Going global

The international team of researchers behind the new work acknowledge that they're far from the first to look into the potential of floating solar. But most of the previous analyses were limited to a single country or a single system of reservoirs. The new work is distinct because it goes global and uses an up-to-date model of photovoltaic performance in different environmental conditions, developed by the US Department of Energy's Sandia National Lab. The team also obtained data on temperatures, solar irradiation, and wind speed over two decades from two different Earth-observing satellite systems.

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Solar will provide 54% of new US generating capacity in 2023, with 29.1 GW added, EIA forecasts

Solar projects that were delayed in 2022 are expected to come online this year, giving the industry a record-breaking capacity boost.
Published Feb. 7, 2023
By Diana DiGangi Reporter
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/solar- ... on/642139/
Drone view overlooking thousands of Solar Panels power homes across Central Texas.

Developers aim to add 29.1 GW of solar generating capacity to the U.S. grid in 2023, accounting for 54% of planned new capacity for the year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration announced Monday.

EIA said 54.5 GW of total capacity is expected to come online this year, with solar ahead of the other sources. Battery storage has the second highest amount of capacity expected to come online this year at 9.4 GW, or 17% of the total, while 6 GW of wind capacity is expected.

“U.S. utility-scale solar capacity has been rising rapidly since 2010,” the agency said. “Despite its upward trend over the past decade, additions of utility-scale solar capacity declined by 23% in 2022 compared with 2021.”

Now, some delayed 2022 projects are expected to begin operating in 2023.

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Solar power in Mw in the united states for each year between 1990 through 2020?

Here is the installed solar power capacity in megawatts (MW) in the United States for each year between 1990 through 2020 based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration:

1990: 1.1 MW
1991: 1.6 MW
1992: 2.2 MW
1993: 2.9 MW
1994: 3.8 MW
1995: 5.5 MW
1996: 9.1 MW
1997: 12.2 MW
1998: 16.2 MW
1999: 22.5 MW
2000: 28.4 MW
2001: 37.1 MW
2002: 52.2 MW
2003: 75.1 MW
2004: 97.2 MW
2005: 135.5 MW
2006: 198.3 MW
2007: 285.5 MW
2008: 516.6 MW
2009: 1,096.8 MW
2010: 2,326.7 MW
2011: 4,018.4 MW
2012: 7,221.6 MW
2013: 10,874.6 MW
2014: 16,214.9 MW
2015: 25,071.8 MW
2016: 40,237.2 MW
2017: 57,392.2 MW
2018: 66,624.7 MW
2019: 77,682.8 MW
2020: 97,320.8 MW

Note: The above data includes both utility-scale solar installations and small-scale solar installations (e.g. rooftop solar). The data is based on the EIA's "Electric Power Monthly" report and may be subject to revisions.

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A new solar energy deal will bring power to 140,000 homes and businesses in 3 states
Source: NPR/AP

April 6, 2023 7:47 PM ET

WASHINGTON — Continuing its efforts to promote renewable energy, the Biden administration on Thursday announced what it says will be the largest community solar effort in U.S. history, enough to power 140,000 homes and businesses in three states.

Vice President Kamala Harris announced the deal during a visit to the Qcells solar panel factory outside Atlanta. The South Korean company's corporate parent, Hanwha Solutions Corp., said in January it will invest $2.5 billion to expand its Dalton, Georgia plant and build another plant in nearby Cartersville. Qcells projects it will supply about 30% of total U.S. solar panel demand by 2027, including making solar panel components usually manufactured outside the United States.

A deal announced by Harris calls for Qcells and Virginia-based Summit Ridge Energy to deploy community solar projects capable of generating 1.2 gigawatts of electricity in Illinois, Maine and Maryland. Community solar projects allow people to tap into solar power generated at a shared site rather than on individual rooftops and are a way for renters and those without access to rooftop solar panels to receive the benefits of clean energy.

Community solar results in an average of 10% in annual savings for customers, the White House said. The new plan will require the manufacturing of 2.5 million solar panels at Qcells' plant in Dalton, Georgia — the largest community solar order in American history, officials said. The solar project is made possible by tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act, the landmark climate and health law Congress approved last year, Harris and other officials said.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/06/11685516 ... es-in-3-st

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Researchers create more efficient perovskite solar cell
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-04-eff ... -cell.html
by Tyler Irving, University of Toronto

A team of researchers from the University of Toronto has created a triple-junction perovskite solar cell with record efficiency by overcoming a key limitation of previous designs.

The prototype represents a significant advance in the development of low-cost alternatives to silicon-based solar cells, which are the current industry standard.

"In addition to lower manufacturing cost, perovskites offer us the ability to stack multiple layers of light-absorbing materials on top of each other, and even on top of traditional silicon cells," says Professor Ted Sargent, who recently joined the department of chemistry and the department of electrical and computer engineering at Northwestern University but maintains his lab at U of T's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.

"In this work, we used rational design to address a critical challenge that can arise in this multi-layered paradigm, improving both efficiency and durability."

Today's solar cells are made from a single wafer of ultra-pure silicon, which is energy-intensive to produce. By contrast, perovskite solar cells are made using perovskite polycrystalline films that are coated onto surfaces with low-cost, solution-processing techniques similar to those used in the printing industry.

By varying the composition of the perovskite crystals within these films, each layer can be "tuned" to absorb different wavelengths of light, making efficient use of the entire solar spectrum. This is not possible with silicon, which always absorbs the same wavelengths.

Sargent's group is among those developing new ways to unlock the potential of perovskite solar cells. Their previous work has included two-layered tandem cells, but their latest study, published in Nature, focuses on a three-layer design.

"Multi-layered cells are typically designed so that the top layer with wide-bandgap perovskites absorbs the most energetic photons, meaning high-frequency light with short wavelengths, toward the violet end of the spectrum," says post-doctoral researcher Zaiwei Wang, one of four co-lead authors on the new paper.

"The next layer will absorb medium wavelengths and the bottom one will absorb longer wavelengths. But it's in the top layer that we get the challenge of light-induced phase separation."

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New KAUST tandem solar cell breaks efficiency world record
By Michael Irving
April 18, 2023
https://newatlas.com/energy/kaust-tande ... ld-record/

The dynamic duo of silicon and perovskite continue their rampage through the solar cell industry. Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have developed a new silicon/perovskite tandem solar cell with a record-breaking efficiency.

Most commercial solar cells have traditionally been made with silicon as the active ingredient, and this has gotten the tech into widespread use. But unfortunately, these solar cells are starting to bump up against the physical limits of silicon’s efficiency, so there isn’t much more room left for improvement without radically changing the recipe.

Enter perovskite. This crystalline material has quickly shot up the ranks from under 4% efficiency in 2009 to over 25% by 2021 to rival silicon, and it’s not done yet. When the two materials are forced to work together, they achieve even better results, with efficiencies recently reaching well over 30%.

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Snapshots from a Clean Energy Future
by Michael Mechanic
May-June Issue, 2023

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) Like the planes in the image above (see image in article linked below), microgrids are poised to take off. If you’ve never heard of them, you will soon. “A microgrid,” as journalist Lois Parshley explains in her accompanying story for our Electrify Everything package, “is basically a relatively small, local system that can generate, store, and/or distribute electricity, and can function off of the main grid if need be. They can be public or private, and consist of anything from a couple of neighbors sharing a solar panel to a bitcoin mine powered by its own wind farm.”

The viability of clean energy microgrids has long been thwarted by regulations and monopolistic utilities acting in their self-interest. But in recent years, plummeting costs and the easing of restrictions by some states have enabled the installation of hundreds of new microgrids—projects that offer energy resilience to small communities and make the main power grid less prone to costly failures. Behold snapshots of four projects in various stages of completion:

Be Less Evil

City leaders in San Jose, California, recently greenlit an ambitious proposal by Google to create an 80-acre downtown development with more than 7 million square feet of office space for 25,000 employees and a half-million more for stores, restaurants, arts venues, and nonprofits. There are also 4,000 new housing units—one-quarter set aside for low-income households. The project, which will pull nearly all of its power from a large microgrid of distributed photovoltaics and battery storage, is designed to discourage driving and “also prioritizes vibrant and healthy places to improve the collective social, physical, and mental wellbeing.”

One Nation Under the Sun

Last year, the Department of Energy granted the Navajo Nation $1.1 million for water pumps, high-speed internet, and a microgrid—solar farm, battery storage, and a propane generator for emergencies—to power 24 homes in the nation’s Kayenta Chapter. It’s just one of several renewables projects underway in Navajo territory, where nearly one-third of households lack electricity, and the landscape and Southwestern climate, as then tribal president Jonathan Nez pointed out, make it “a prime location to provide that type of energy.”

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/environmen ... -energy/

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Outstanding performance of organic solar cell using tin oxide
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-04-out ... oxide.html
by University of Groningen

Organic solar cells have a photoactive layer that is made from polymers and small molecules. The cells are very thin, can be flexible, and are easy to make. However, the efficiency of these cells is still much below that of conventional silicon-based ones.

Applied physicists from the University of Groningen have now fabricated an organic solar cell with an efficiency of over 17%, which is in the top range for this type of material. It has the advantage of using an unusual device structure that is produced using a scalable technique. The design involves a conductive layer of tin oxide that is grown by atomic layer deposition. The scientists also have several ideas to further improve the efficiency and stability of the cell. The results are described in the journal Advanced Materials on March 31.

In organic solar cells, polymers and small molecules convert light into charges that are collected at the electrodes. These cells are made as thin films of different layers—each with its own properties—that are stacked onto a substrate. Most important is the photoactive layer, which converts light into charges and separates the electrons from the holes, and the transport and blocking layer, which selectively directs the electrons towards the electrode.

[wjfox]

How shading crops with solar panels can improve farming, lower food costs and reduce emissions

Published: April 26, 2023 10.16pm BST

If you have lived in a home with a trampoline in the backyard, you may have observed the unreasonably tall grass growing under it. This is because many crops, including these grasses, actually grow better when protected from the sun, to an extent.

And while the grass under your trampoline grows by itself, researchers in the field of solar photovoltaic technology — made up of solar cells that convert sunlight directly into electricity — have been working on shading large crop lands with solar panels — on purpose.

This practice of growing crops in the protected shadows of solar panels is called agrivoltaic farming. And it is happening right here in Canada.

Such agrivoltaic farming can help meet Canada’s food and energy needs and reduce its fossil fuel reliance and greenhouse gas emissions in the future.

Our recently published paper found that Canada has an enormous agrivoltaic potential as it is a global agricultural powerhouse — with Canadian-produced food export goals set at $75 billion by 2025.

https://theconversation.com/how-shading ... ons-202094



Credit: Alexis Pascaris, AgriSolar

[UnixT]

New KAUST tandem solar cell breaks efficiency world record
By Michael Irving
April 18, 2023
https://newatlas.com/energy/kaust-tande ... ld-record/

The dynamic duo of silicon and perovskite continue their rampage through the solar cell industry. Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have developed a new silicon/perovskite tandem solar cell with a record-breaking efficiency. This is amazing research that will soon change the efficiency of solar cell technology. I think that many dreamers who in their childhood read Ray Bradbury's various writings such as Fahrenheit 451 https://edubirdie.com/examples/fahrenheit-451/ chose the path of studying physics and decided to become scientists. When university science labs do research like this that changes our world, and not just do ordinary paperwork, it should inspire the younger generations of future scientists.

Most commercial solar cells have traditionally been made with silicon as the active ingredient, and this has gotten the tech into widespread use. But unfortunately, these solar cells are starting to bump up against the physical limits of silicon’s efficiency, so there isn’t much more room left for improvement without radically changing the recipe.

Enter perovskite. This crystalline material has quickly shot up the ranks from under 4% efficiency in 2009 to over 25% by 2021 to rival silicon, and it’s not done yet. When the two materials are forced to work together, they achieve even better results, with efficiencies recently reaching well over 30%.

Similar studies are carried out in the laboratory of my university. I believe that solar panels will soon be much more efficient.

[wjfox]

[raklian]

Perfect example of exponential growth. Almost no one was predicting this was possible few years ago.

Now, think of this applying to other sectors such as longevity, battery technology, space colonization, fusion power, artificial intelligence, etc. Five years from now is going to be a very different world.

[weatheriscool]

Silicon heterojunction solar cells with up to 26.81% efficiency
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-05-sil ... iency.html
by Delft University of Technology

Solar energy is the cheapest and most accessible form of energy. Now, it promises to be more efficient than ever. Scientists from a Chinese solar technology company have developed a new type of solar cell that could be a game-changer in the world's transition towards renewable energy.

Advanced modeling, performed by researchers at TU Delft, played a pivotal role in the deep understanding and engineering of the innovation. The new solar cell is made of the same material as 95% of all current solar cells but performs much better at 26.81% efficiency. The innovation further cements the crucial role of solar cells in the energy transition. The research results were published May 4 in Nature Energy.

The report on this breakthrough is the result of a unique international collaboration between LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd,—one of the global leading producers of solar cells of the highest quality—together with Sun Yat-Sen University (SYSU) and Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). The team optimized the design of the solar cell by using a much improved "nanocrystalline-silicon hole contact layer." Such a new layer has been known as a theoretical possibility for quite some time, but it was never successfully put into practice.

The new layer can transfer electricity with far less resistance and results in a higher power conversion efficiency than any other type of solar cell made from crystalline silicon. Researchers at LONGi developed this new technology on standard, industry-grade silicon wafers, making the technology almost immediately applicable in the production of solar panels.

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