Solar Energy

New York’s passion for transitioning to renewable energy sources is taking a significant step forward with the Horseshoe Solar Project in Rush, New York. The Invenergy-led initiative aims to generate 180 megawatts of energy through 600,000 solar panels, powering 35,000 to 50,000 homes annually, addressing the state’s growing electricity demand and creating jobs. The project, which was first presented to the public in 2019, reignited public debate during a recent virtual public hearing, particularly around potential environmental impacts.

Public Concerns and Company Responses

Despite the project’s promise of a greener future, it has not been without its detractors. Local resident Robin Rapport raised the issues during the public hearing, expressing concern about the project’s potential to alter water flow and increase pollution. These concerns highlight the need for a detailed environmental impact analysis, something critics claim has not been sufficiently addressed by Invenergy. In response, the company emphasized its commitment to sustainable development and the economic benefits the project will bring to the region, stressing that the solar farm will generate more revenue than traditional agriculture.

Regulatory Approvals and Next Steps

The project has received support from state officials as Horseshoe Solar nears groundbreaking, expected to begin in 2024 and be completed by 2025. The director of the state’s renewable energy office heralded Horseshoe Solar’s approval as a “huge victory for New Yorkers,” aligning with the goal of creating a zero-emissions grid by 2040. public concerns about environmental safety and procedural transparency.

Looking Ahead: Balancing Growth and Sustainability

The Horseshoe Solar Project embodies the challenges and opportunities inherent in the transition to renewable energy. While the project promises to make a significant contribution to New York’s energy sustainability and economic growth, the project also emphasizes the importance of community involvement and environmental stewardship. Addressing the concerns of Rush residents and ensuring strong environmental safeguards will be critical for Invenergy as it moves forward, demonstrating the broader tension between rapid technological progress and the imperative of environmental protection.

As the Horseshoe Solar Project moves forward, its development will likely serve as a model for similar initiatives across the country, highlighting the complex dance between innovation, environmental responsibility and community involvement. The importance of harmonizing these elements cannot be overstated, with increasing renewable energy projects laying the groundwork for a future where green energy and public welfare go hand in hand.

Photo by Los Muertos Crew on Pexels.com

The US added a record 32.4 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity in 2023, but 2024 will bring challenges for the industry, according to a new report.

March 5, 2024: This represents a 37% increase from the previous record set in 2021 and a 51% increase from 2022.

This is the first time in 80 years that renewables account for more than half of annual additions to the grid.

According to the US Solar Market Insight 2023 Annual Review released today by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie, solar accounted for 53% of all new electricity generation capacity added to the grid last year. This is the first time in 80 years that renewable electricity sources account for more than 50% of annual power additions.

Every segment of the solar market is projected to grow year-over-year to 177 GW of total installed solar capacity in the US in 2023. The utility sector alone added 22.5 GW of new capacity, while nearly 800,000 Americans added solar to their homes.

SEIA President and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper said:

The Inflation Relief Act boosts solar installations and has a significant impact on our economy, helping America’s solar module manufacturing base grow by 89% in 2023.

We must protect and optimize the policies that drive these investments and create jobs, and the payoff could not be higher in the upcoming elections.

December 6, 2023: SEIA and Wood Mackenzie released their report, “US Solar Market Insight Q4 2023,” in which they report that new solar additions totaled 6.5 gigawatts (GW) in the third quarter (Q3) — a 35% year-over-year increase — due to federal clean energy policies. started to catch.

California and Texas led the US in new solar installations in Q3, while Indiana came in third with 663 megawatts (MW) of new capacity. Fourteen states and Puerto Rico installed more than 100 MW of new solar capacity in the third quarter.

Although economic challenges are beginning to affect the solar and storage industries, by 2050 solar energy is still expected to be the largest source of generating capacity on the US grid.

SEIA President and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper said:

Solar remains the fastest-growing energy source in the United States, and despite the challenging economic environment, this growth is expected to continue in the coming years.

To sustain this projected growth, we must modernize regulations and reduce bureaucratic barriers to make it easier for clean energy companies to invest capital and create jobs.

The residential solar segment installed a record 210,000 systems in the third quarter. However, California’s Public Utilities Commission’s disastrous decision to eliminate the state’s rooftop solar incentives—resulting in an 80% drop in installations—and high U.S. interest rate growth are expected to result in a brief downturn next year before resuming in 2025.

Rising financing costs, transformer shortages and interconnection issues are also affecting the utilities segment, which saw its lowest level of new contracts signed in the quarter since 2018.

However, improvements in the modular supply chain led to a record 12 GW of utility-scale deployment in the first nine months of 2023.

Solar will account for 48% of all new electricity generation capacity in the first three quarters of 2023, bringing the total installed solar capacity in the U.S. to 161 GW at 4.7 million installations. By 2028, US solar capacity is expected to reach 377 GW, enough to power more than 65 million homes.

Michelle Davis, head of solar research at Wood Mackenzie and lead author of the report:

The US solar industry is on a strong growth trajectory, with expectations for 55% growth this year and 10% growth in 2024.

Growth is expected to be slower starting in 2026 as various challenges such as interoperability constraints become more acute. To maximize the value that solar energy brings to an increasingly complex grid, it is critical that the industry continues to innovate.

Interconnection reform, modernizing regulators and increasing storage surcharges will be key tools.

Electrek’s Take

I’m not surprised by record solar capacity in 2023 – thank you, Deinflation Act – but I’m glad to hear it from SEIA. The solar industry is still set to grow in 2024, not as fast as last year.

There are many moving parts in this revolutionary transition to clean energy, and next year the industry and its supply chain will need to recalibrate on some important issues.

There’s nothing he can do about interest rates, and I don’t know how to fix California’s mess. But there are innovative startups coming up with better ways to calibrate power on the grid, and those ideas are being commercialized. As Davis said, interconnection reform and regulatory improvements are needed to ease clean energy bottlenecks. I hope these bottleneck problems will be improved by the government soon.

Read more: Here’s what the US needs to do right now to improve the grid

Photo: A worker watching a sunrise is licensed CC-CC0 1.0 by the US Department of Energy

Consider going solar with a battery storage system to limit power outages and make your home more sustainable. To find a reliable, trustworthy solar installer in your area that offers competitive rates, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes going solar easy. They have hundreds of pre-screened solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get top quality solutions and save 20-30% over going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get any sales calls until you choose an installer and share your phone number with them.

It’s easy to compare customized solar prices online and you’ll have access to impartial Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Start here. – advertising*

FTC: We use automatic affiliate links that generate income. More.

picture:

Assistant Professor HOU Yi (right) and Dr LIU Shunchang (left) from the National University of Singapore (NUS) developed new three-junction perovskite/Si tandem solar cells using advanced technologies and equipment at the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore. at NUS. These tandem solar cells have an impressive certified world record power conversion efficiency of 27.1 percent per 1 sq cm of active area.

see more

Credit: National University of Singapore

Scientists at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a new triple-junction perovskite/Si tandem solar cell that can achieve a certified world-record power conversion efficiency of 27.1 percent per 1 sq cm of solar absorption area. Best performing triple junction perovskite/Si tandem solar cell ever. To achieve this, the team developed a new stable and energy-efficient cyanate-integrated perovskite solar cell.

Solar cells can be made in more than two layers and stacked to create multi-junction solar cells to increase efficiency. Each layer is made of different photovoltaic materials and absorbs solar energy in a different range. However, existing multi-junction solar cell technologies present many problems, such as energy loss, which leads to low voltage and instability during device operation.

To overcome these challenges, Associate Professor Hou Yi led a team of scientists from the NUS College of Design and Engineering (CDE) and the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) to demonstrate for the first time the successful integration of cyanate into a perovskite. Solar cell to develop an advanced three-junction perovskite/Si tandem solar cell that outperforms other similar multi-junction solar cells. Asst Prof Hou is a Presidential Young Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at CDE, as well as a Group Leader at SERIS, a university-level research institute at NUS.

“Interestingly, after 15 years of research in the field of perovskite-based solar cells, this work is the first experimental evidence for incorporating cyanide into perovskites to increase structure stability and improve energy conversion efficiency,” said Assoc. Hou.

The experimental process that led to this groundbreaking discovery was published in the journal Nature on March 4, 2024.

Production of energy-saving solar cell technology

The interactions between the components of the perovskite structure determine the energy range it can reach. Adjusting the ratio of these components or finding a direct substitute can help change the energy range of the perovskite. However, previous research has yet to produce a perovskite recipe with an ultra-wide energy range and high efficiency.

In this recently published work, the NUS team experimented with cyanate, a new pseudohalide, as a replacement for bromide, an ion from the halide group commonly used in perovskites. Dr Liu Shunchang, a researcher in Asst Prof Hou’s team, used various analytical methods to confirm the successful integration of cyanate into the perovskite structure and developed a cyanate-integrated perovskite solar cell.

Further analysis of the new perovskite’s atomic structure provided, for the first time, experimental evidence that the incorporation of cyanate helps to stabilize its structure and create key interactions within the perovskite, demonstrating how it can replace halides in perovskite-based solar cells.

When evaluating the performance, the NUS scientists found that the cyanate-doped perovskite solar cells could achieve a higher voltage of 1,422 volts compared to 1,357 volts for conventional perovskite solar cells, significantly reducing energy loss.

The researchers also tested the newly developed perovskite solar cell by operating it continuously at maximum power for 300 hours under controlled conditions. After the test period, the solar cell remained stable and operated at more than 96 percent capacity.

Encouraged by the impressive performance of cyanate-integrated perovskite solar cells, the NUS team took their groundbreaking discovery to the next step by using it to assemble a triple-junction perovskite/Si tandem solar cell. The researchers assembled a perovskite solar cell and a silicon solar cell to create a two-junction half-cell, which provided an ideal base for adding a cyanate-integrated perovskite solar cell.

The researchers demonstrated that despite the complexity of the triple junction perovskite/Si tandem solar cell structure after assembly, it remained stable and achieved a certified world record efficiency of 27.1 percent from an accredited independent photovoltaic calibration laboratory.

“Collectively, these advances offer fundamental insights into reducing energy loss in perovskite solar cells and set a new course for the future development of perovskite-based triple-junction solar technology,” Associate Professor Howe said.

Next steps

The theoretical efficiency of triple-junction perovskite/Si tandem solar cells exceeds 50 percent, offering significant potential for further improvements, especially in applications where installation space is limited.

In the future, the NUS team aims to upgrade this technology to larger modules without compromising efficiency and stability. Future research will focus on innovations in the interfaces and composition of the perovskite – key areas identified by the team to further develop this technology.

Article Title

Cyanate triple-junction solar cells in ultra-wideband perovskites

Publication date of the article

March 4, 2024

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! EurekAlert is not responsible for the accuracy of news posted! for the use of any information by contributing entities or through the EurekAlert system.

A Chinese module manufacturer has led an international research team to save silicon material and increase efficiency in the development of heterojunction PV devices. The cell achieved a certified power conversion efficiency of 26.06% with a thickness of 57 μm, and the German Institute for Solar Energy Research confirmed the result.

March 4, 2024 by Valerie Thompson

From Global pv magazine

Researchers continue to push the boundaries of silicon solar cell technology to use less material in thinner and lighter cells without sacrificing efficiency and durability.

Now, a team led by researchers at Chinese vertically integrated module maker Longi has developed processes for producing highly efficient heterojunction (HJT) solar cells, avoiding the brittleness and low efficiency results seen in previous attempts to produce thinner cells.

In the study, “Flexible Silicon Solar Cells with High Power-to-Weight Ratio,” published in Nature, the scientists report that the new cell is between 57 μm and 125 μm thick and uses M6 wafers with an area of ​​274.4 cm2.

Wafer thinning not only reduces weight and cost, but also facilitates charge migration and separation, the research team noted.

“The flexible and thin profile of these solar cells opens up new possibilities for incorporating solar energy generation into various aspects of daily life and industry in portable electronics, integrated PV, transportation, space applications, and emerging technologies with unconventional surfaces or structures,” – Xixiang Longi R&D Group Leader and Corresponding Author Xu told pv magazine.

The group has developed its own control and regulation system to enable a continuous low damage plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process to prevent epitaxy and maintain surface uniformity. This is a modification of the traditional step-by-step, discontinuous CVD process for passivation, the researchers noted.

In addition, they performed a “vertical growth process for self-healing nanocrystal seed and doped contacts” in a high-frequency plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD) process, which enables high-quality n-type and p-type carrier growth. selective contacts” for hole-carrying layers and electron-carrying layers.

Another innovation was to use non-contact laser transfer printing to place the low shadow grid lines. For their transparent conducting oxide (TCO) layers, they chose cerium-doped indium oxide (ICO) and a low-damage reactive plasma deposition (RPD) process.

The team deposited ICO as a TCO coating using a low-damage reactive plasma deposition method, which they said “includes lower resistivity (2.7 × 10−4 Ω cm) and higher carrier mobility (83.1 cm V−1 produced superior electrical performance. s −1), compared to indium tin oxide obtained by magnetron sputtering reported elsewhere,” adding that the process “plays a crucial role in improving subsequent stability.”

The cell achieved a certified power conversion efficiency of 26.06% with a thickness of 57 μm, a value of 26.56% with a thickness of 106 μm, and a maximum efficiency of 26.81% with a thickness of 125 μm. The 57 μm solar cell had the highest power-to-weight ratio (1.9 W g−1) and open-circuit voltage (761 mV).

The results were confirmed by the Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hamelin, Germany.

The scientists were also able to reduce optical losses by optimizing the configuration of grid lines using “industry-grade contactless” laser transfer printing technology. “The width of the finger can be reduced from 40 μm (typical screen printing) to 18 μm, with a shadow area of ​​less than 2%,” they said.

According to the paper, the devices were tested for potential induced degradation and light-induced degradation. “This technological advance provides a practical basis for the commercialization of flexible, lightweight, inexpensive and highly efficient solar cells, and the ability to bend or fold crystalline silicon solar cells for travel is expected,” the team concluded.

The team included researchers from Jiangsu University of Science and Technology and Curtin University.

This content is copyrighted and may not be reused. If you would like to collaborate with us and reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected].

As parts of the world face ongoing water shortages, a groundbreaking new device that turns hot air into drinkable water could help solve the problem.

As explained by Tech Xplore, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin published their results in September 2023 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, revealing that they have “made a significant advance in efforts to create drinking water from thin air: They can create clean water using only energy from sunlight.” molecularly engineered hydrogel.

Researchers have successfully extracted water from the atmosphere using solar energy at temperatures as low as 104 degrees, typical of summer weather in Texas and other parts of the world. US cities like Flint, Michigan have long faced a crisis of lack of access to clean drinking water. In Ethiopia, 60% of the population does not have basic access to clean water.

Tech Xplore noted that the device “can produce between 3.5 and 7 kilograms (0.91 and 1.82 gallons) of water per kilogram of gel material, depending on humidity conditions.”

In other words, a simple device could someday be placed outside the homes of people living in extremely hot areas and produce potable water without much effort.

“With our new hydrogel, we’re not just pulling water out of the air. We do this extremely quickly and without using a lot of energy,” said Guihua Yu, professor of materials science and engineering at the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Walker Mechanical Engineering and Texas Materials Institute.

Sign up for our newsletter Good news, green hacks and the latest cool clean tech – straight to your inbox every week!

Yu continued, “What’s really interesting about our hydrogel is how it releases water. Think about a hot Texas summer – we can just take advantage of the natural ebb and flow of our temperature, no need to turn on any heaters.

The hydrogel is particularly capable of breaking down into “microgels,” facilitating the speed and efficiency improvements needed to bring the device closer to reality.

“By transforming the hydrogel into micro-sized particles, we can enable water capture and ultrafast release,” said Weixin Guan, a graduate student in Yu’s lab and one of the leaders of the study. “This suggests new, highly effective sorbents that can significantly increase water production with a few days of cycling.”

The next step in turning the device into a commercial product is for the researchers to scale up production.

Increasing the engineering of microgels will further increase efficiency. The research team is also developing other versions of the device made from organic materials that would make mass production more cost-effective.

“We designed this device to be accessible to people around the world who need quick and consistent access to clean, potable water, especially in arid areas,” says Yaxuan Zhao, a graduate student in Yu’s lab.

Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the hottest news improve our lives and to save our planet.