PV Mag dives into the increasing research into silicon-free tandem solar cells at commercial, academic, and institutional labs in the US. These include all-organic, all-perovskite tandem combinations and cadmium telluride and copper indium gallium diselenide devices. They reference that multiple teams have announced lab-scale, all-thin-film cells with conversion efficiencies above 27% with the succession of tech being single junction, then perovskite-silicon tandem and then, eventually, all-thin-film.”
EnergySage reports that prices for resi solar installs are hovering around an all-time low – they were $2.69 per watt for the first half of 2024, declining 4% from the second half of 2023. This is just 1% higher than the all-time low of $2.67 per watt in the first half of 2021, when U.S. resi experienced one of its largest growth cycles in history.
According to IREC’s 14th Annual National Solar Jobs Census, solar jobs are plentiful. The Census found that the solar industry added 15,564 jobs in 2023 or a growth of 6%, amounting to 280,000 workers in the field.
SPW rounds up trends around new power electronics at RE+. They discuss large central inverters that are getting bigger from 1,500 to 2,000 V and using closed-system liquid cooling tech to limit the amount of dust, animals and junk. Per string inverters, manufacturers are working on UL 3741 listings for their products and resi inverter-makers are bringing home energy system components in-house, including batteries, EV chargers and even smart switches.
This article looks at the role of zip ties in lowering O&M costs because they help avoid reduced efficiency and system damage over the life of a project. They cite a study that found that 80% of projects have issues relating to wiring with more than a quarter of issues being directly related to poor cable management.
Nico Johnson of Suncast and Abby Hopper and other SEIA folks recap RE+ highlights. They talk about memorable moments, the unexpected, upcoming policy issues, and challenges our industry will be facing over the next year. The discussion, of course, includes an analysis of the impact of the IRA and its future.
BayWa r.e., SMA and Unirac discuss why C&I is a hot area to jump into. The webinar looks at tools and insights for scaling your business to accommodate C&I. Topics include streamlining C&I design, engineering and support, leveraging the IRA, policies and industry trends, technical support for UL 3741, and more. The video is below.