News

Over the past decades, the renewable generation of electricity by photovoltaic solar energy (PV) has come down in costs dramatically and is now economically competitive with conventional generation using fossil fuels or nuclear reactors in an increasing number of markets. Convinced that solar electricity will play a dominant role in the energy supply of 2050 and given the leading role held by European research institutes in the development of PV technology, awardees of the Becquerel Prize collectively drew up a resolution. At the largest European photovoltaic conference, the 35th EU PVSEC in Brussels, the award-winning European scientists collectively expressed their concern that the European photovoltaic industry is threatened to be lost due to the strong competition from Asia. In particular, this pertains to the cell and module production, which makes up a large part of the value chain. This loss presents a strategic risk to the future electricity supply of Europe.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, invite to the 2018 SOPHIA workshop »PV Module Reliability« from September 4 to 5 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The workshop will feature reliability aspects in connection with new challenges imposed by novel components of PV modules, presently observed failure modes and the further development of suitable test cycles towards service life testing. The workshop will be embedded in a EUROREG workshop which is intended to provide a forum of global trends and current challenges on photovoltaics and nanophotonics in the fields of research, industry and market.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE reported that solar power production in Germany reached an all-time record of 6.7 TWh in July 2018. The installed photovoltaic capacity in Germany generated 15.1 % of the total electricity production in July, ahead of nuclear power (13.8 %). During the present heat wave, nuclear and coal plants are operating at reduced capacity in order to limit the amount of cooling water flowing into surrounding rivers and thus rising water temperatures. In this case, photovoltaic power fulfills an important grid-stabilizing function.

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and the Freiburg Academy of Continuing Education (FRAUW) at the University of Freiburg are offering a joint master’s degree prgram for continuing education and three certificate programs in the areas of public safety, energy and sustainability. This cooperation between the Fraunhfer-Gesellschaft and the University of Freiburg has now been solidified and permanently strengthened through a master agreement. The partners are able to pursue their joint goal of supporting continuing education and developing new skill sets through this initiative. The agreement has been signed on July 31, 2018. Along with FRAUW and the Fraunofer Academy, other partners include the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and the Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed Dynamics, Ernst-Mach-Institut, EMI.

Hydrogen will play a central role as a storage medium in sustainable energy systems. An international team of researchers has now succeeded in raising the efficiency of producing hydrogen from direct solar water-splitting to a record 19 per cent. They did so by combining a tandem solar cell of III-V semiconductors with a catalyst of rhodium nanoparticles and a crystalline titanium dioxide coating. Teams from the California Institute of Technology, the University of Cambridge, Technische Universität Ilmenau, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE participated in the development work. One part of the experiments took place at the Institute for Solar Fuels in the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin.

Chemiepark Bitterfeld-Wolfen GmbH (CPG), site operator and infrastructure service provider of Chemiepark Bitterfeld-Wolfen, has become a shareholder of NexWafe GmbH. NexWafe GmbH is commercializing a technology developed at Fraunhofer ISE for epitaxial fabrication of silicon wafers for photovoltaics.

The IFAT, the world’s leading trade fair for water, sewage, waste and raw materials management, is being held in Munich, Germany from May 14 – 18. About 3100 exhibitors and more than 130 000 visitors are expected to attend. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE is presenting their innovations for clean water at a communal booth together with the Fraunhofer Alliance SysWasser and the Solar Spring GmbH (Hall B2, Booth 215/314).

Professor Christoph Reinhart from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is currently spending time at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE as visiting researcher and award winner of this year’s Fraunhofer-Bessel Research Award of the Humboldt Foundation. He will be spending five weeks at the institute working together with Fraunhofer researchers. During his research stay, Reinhart will be cooperating with scientists at Fraunhofer ISE and other European research institutes to define future-oriented themes and research topics in the areas of building technologies and smart cities.

At the 14th International CPV Conference in Puertollano, Spain, Juan Francisco Martínez Sánchez, doctoral student at Fraunhofer ISE, was distinguished with the Student Award for his talk »4-Terminal CPV Module Capable of Converting Global Normal Irradiance into Electricity.« Decisive is that his module not only uses the direct sunlight that is concentrated by lenses onto the miniature concentrator solar cells no bigger than several millimeters in size, but also the scattered light and diffuse radiation. This allows the module to achieve conversion efficiencies (with respect to global normal irradiance) that are unparalleled worldwide. Up to 36.8 percent module efficiency has already been measured on the roof of Fraunhofer ISE, and the development continues.

For homeowners, the limited roof area often raises the question: Electricity from photovoltaics or heat from solar thermal? Photovoltaic-thermal hybrid collectors (PVT collectors) combine both technologies in a single component. In recent years, PVT collectors have seen increased interest from industry and science, leading to new developments in innovative PVT collector and systems.