Photovoltaic system

Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news.

Today on EGEB, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE made a breakthrough that may turn photovoltaic production upside-down. India bets on solar-wind farm hybrids in their new energy draft policy. Solar Exchange and the United Nations Development Programme team up to bring solar power to one of Europe’s most impoverished country.

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Earlier this month SolarCity announced details of a new high-efficiency solar panel it plans on producing at its 1 GW module factory under-construction in Buffalo, NY. The company claimed that the module’s 22.04% efficiency was enough to make it the “most efficient rooftop solar module” ever made.  The claim apparently sparked a “war” of high-efficiency solar panels because in the week following the announcement two other solar panel makers claimed to have surpassed SolarCity’s record.
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SolarEdge announced a significant upgrade to their smart inverter line this today called “HD-Wave” which will have a profound impact on the solar industry. Further followup from SolarEdge yields a nice (HDWave PDF) Deck as well outlining some of the bigger upgrades.

In short, SolarEdge has done for the inverter (a critical piece of the solar ecosystem which turns DC powered Solar/Wind/hydro electricity into AC which is used by homes and long poweline distance travel) what flat panels did for the TV just a decade or so ago.  The new technology uses 16 times fewer magnets, smaller thin film capacitors and much less cooling to yield a 99% efficient power transformation. That not only makes solar installs less expensive, more productive and easier, it makes Tesla’s Powerwall a whole lot smaller…
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