First Solar, Inc. has set a new world record for cadmium-telluride (CdTe) photovoltaic (PV) solar cell conversion efficiency, achieving 18.7 percent cell efficiency in tests confirmed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The cell was constructed at the Company’s Perrysburg, Ohio factory and R&D center using processes and materials — including the glass substrate — that are designed for commercial-scale manufacturing.
Bringing the concept of an “artificial leaf” closer to reality, a team of researchers at MIT has published a detailed analysis of all the factors that could limit the efficiency of such a system. The new analysis lays out a roadmap for a research program to improve the efficiency of these systems, and could quickly lead to the production of a practical, inexpensive and commercially viable prototype.
Installed geothermal capacity in the United States has grown by five percent, or 147.05 MW, since March 2012, according to the Geothermal Energy Association. This increase in capacity is part of a larger trend of steady geothermal growth over the past decade, and can be attributed to seven geothermal projects that came online in 2012. GEA also revised its last year’s estimate of total installed capacity upward by 128 MW, bringing current installed U.S. geothermal capacity to 3,386 MW.
- Latest winners of Offshore Wind Component Technologies Development and Demonstration scheme announced (second call)
- £4million fourth call opens to applications
Austin, Texas (Feb. 27, 2013) – SolarBridge Technologies (SolarBridge), the leading provider of integrated microinverters for AC modules, announces that it has achieved Clean Energy Council (CEC) approval for its SolarBridge Pantheon II microinverter in Australia. SolarBridge also received a Certificate of Suitability for its microinverter from the New South Wales Office of Fair Trading.
