News

Sufficient production capacity and a European supply chain would make vertically integrated photovoltaic production in Germany and the rest of Europe competitive. This was the conclusion of a study commissioned by the German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA) and carried out by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. Researchers compared the costs of producing the leading technology based on surface-passivated monocrystalline silicon solar cells in Germany/Europe with production in China.

Like other countries in Southeast Asia, Vietnam is experiencing strong economic and population growth. Its energy demand is currently increasing by ten percent each year and the competition for land use is growing as a result. With the project “SHRIMPS” (Solar-Aquaculture Habitats as Resource-Efficient and Integrated Multilayer Production Systems), the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and its partners want to demonstrate that dual land use for aquaculture and photovoltaics can solve these systemic problems. Pilot plants are being installed and tested along the Mekong’s upper basin and in the Mekong Delta.

PV Nano Cell Ltd., the developer of Sicrys™ conductive inks based on single crystal nano-particles of silver and copper, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE announced remarkable results using the ink in the development of innovative metallization technologies for solar cells with Inkjet and Rotational Printing.

Researchers at the French Centre de Nanosciences et de Nanotechnologies (C2N) have succeeded, in collaboration with researchers at Fraunhofer ISE and others, to efficiently trap sunlight in a solar cell thanks to an ultrathin absorbing layer made of 205 nm-thick gallium arsenide (GaAs) on a nanostructured back mirror. With this new process of fabrication, an efficiency of nearly 20% was obtained.

The Fraunhofer ISE, the Fraunhofer CSET and the CSIRO Mining Center in Santiago de Chile have successfully passed the first proposal round for the new Chilean institute for clean energy technologies.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg implemented new analytic models into the software SmartCalc.CTM which simulates the losses and gains in power output due to cell-to-module (CTM) integration. Significantly extended features now include the analysis of solar modules with bifacial solar cells and the freedom to define arbitrary operation conditions. SmartCalc.CTM now supports module optimization beyond laboratory conditions for an even greater variety of technologies.

Perovskite based solar cells have made tremendous progress over the last decade achieving outstanding lab-scale efficiencies of 24.2% early 2019 in single-junction architecture and to an astonishing 28% in tandem (perovskite associated with crystalline silicon), turning it into the fastest-advancing solar technology to date. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE is among the founding members of the European Perovskite Initiative (EPKI) that was launched during the Smarter E Europe in Munich today.

After the success of the SFERA 2 (Solar Facilities for the European Research Area) training courses program, the SFERA 3 consortium is pleased to present the continuation of the program starting with the topic of solar towers with focus on optics and power measurement. The Fraunhofer-Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE is a partner in the training on solar tower systems and will present simulation tools and measurement technology.

From May 28 -29, the Polymer Competence Center Leoben (PCCL) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, supported by Austrian Photovoltaics Technology Platform, will host the 2019 SOPHIA workshop “PV-Module Reliability”. The workshop in Graz, Austria, will focus on reliability aspects of innovative materials, developments in modeling and the standardization of lifetime predictions. Experts from research and industry will also discuss the influence of reliability and service life on the sustainability of PV modules with the participants.

Concentrated solar radiation is a very promising renewable energy resource. The best known application is electricity generation in Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants, but other applications have also been demonstrated, such as production of solar fuels, water treatment and research in advanced materials. Europe is a leader in research and development of this technology. In line with this development, the European Union is promoting the opening of key Research Infrastructures (RIs) in solar concentrating systems for both academia and industries for carrying out energy and materials research as well as research in other fields using the extreme temperature conditions in solar concentrators. Within the ‘Solar Facilities for the European Research Area Third Phase (SFERA-III)’ Project, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE provides access to its laboratories.