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Multicrystalline silicon solar cell with 21.9 % efficiency - world record back at Fraunhofer ISE

Published

The potential of photovoltaics (PV) has not yet been exhausted; industry and research are working intensively on further increasing the efficiency and reducing the costs of solar cells, the heart of PV power plants. For multicrystalline silicon, the workhorse of the solar cell industry, researchers at Fraunhofer ISE have now achieved an efficiency of 21.9 percent, bringing the world record back to Freiburg.

Higher efficiencies and optimised process steps are crucial to lower the price of solar electricity even further. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE is working on both. The Freiburg researchers have now set a new world record for efficiency. A multicrystalline silicon solar cell converts 21.9 percent of sunlight into electrical energy. This means that Fraunhofer ISE once again holds the world record for multicrystalline silicon solar cells, which it already held from 2004 to 2015. The solar cell is made of n-type high performance (HP) multicrystalline silicon, which has a higher tolerance to important impurities, especially iron, compared to p-type. Today, multicrystalline p-type silicon material is used in industrial production and the average efficiencies are 19 percent. The new material and technology approach adopted by Fraunhofer ISE has the potential to improve the efficiency of multicrystalline silicon even further in the near future.

Source: PM of Fraunhofer ISE (Freiburg) from 20.2.2017: Multicrystalline silicon solar cell with 21.9 % efficiency - world record back at Fraunhofer ISE


Keywords: DE-News, Renewable, News Blog Baden-Württemberg, PV, Ecology

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Berliner Stadtwerke überschreiten die solare 10 MW-Schwelle
Published

Berlin public utilities exceed the solar 10 MW threshold

Eight hectares of modules built on Berlin's roofs, almost half of them on residential buildings

Berlin's municipal utility is clearly picking up the pace in the expansion of solar installations in the capital. The municipal green electricity producer exceeded the 10 megawatt threshold at the end of September.

Since the commissioning of their first solar plant on a GESOBAU house on Rolandstraße in Pankow, the output installed by the municipal utility has thus increased exactly a hundredfold. Behind the 10 megawatts peak (MWp) built, which corresponds to around one tenth of all solar power installed in Berlin from large to single-family homes, are more than 150 individual systems.

Around 4.3 MWp of the 10 MWp were erected for tenant electricity systems with housing associations and cooperatives as well as homeowners' associations. In these projects, tenants or owners can obtain the electricity generated on their own roofs directly and particularly cost-effectively and thus contribute to the energy transition themselves. Around 5.7 MWp have been installed on state-owned properties - schools, sports halls, administrative and cultural buildings, prisons and fire and police stations.

All of the plants constructed by Berliner Stadtwerke have a combined module area of 80,000 m² or 8 hectares, which is equivalent to a good eleven football pitches. The plants completed to date save the atmosphere around 4,900 tonnes of CO2. By the end of the year, Berliner Stadtwerke plans to install a further 2 MWp of connected solar capacity.

Source: PM from 04.10.2019

 



Keywords:
Stock, DE-News, Renewable, Climate protection, Communities, Tenant electricity, News Blog Berlin, PV, Quarters, Settlements, City, Environmental policy, Ecology

Leitfaden „Wärmewende in Kommunen“
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Guide "Heat Turnaround in Municipalities

ifeu Institute Heidelberg on behalf of the Heinrich Böll Foundation

In recent years, many cities around the world have committed themselves to significantly reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by improving their heat supply, thereby making an important contribution to climate protection. Despite the energy transition, Germany is lagging behind in this endeavour because the energy transition primarily concerns the electricity supply. However, a "heat transition" is also necessary because it can be an important building block in the restructuring of our energy system if surplus electricity from renewable sources is converted into heat or stored. Local authorities with their heating networks and new neighbourhoods would be key players here.
The guide to the heating transition in municipalities was compiled by ifeu on behalf of the Heinrich Böll Foundation. It is aimed at anyone who wants to tackle the heat transition in their city or municipality and offers a compass for making the right decisions on climate-neutral heat supply.

pdf download:
www.boell.de/...waermewende-in-kommunen_leitfaden.pdf

Further information on the ifeu website:
www.ifeu.de/index.php?bereich=ene&seite=waermewende



Keywords:
Stock, DE-News, Renewable, Climate protection, Communities, New books and studies, Quarters, Ecology

Deutschland subventioniert Kohle, Öl und Gas mit 46 Milliarden Euro pro Jahr
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Germany subsidizes coal, oil and gas with 46 billion euros per year

With 46 billion euros per year, the German government favours the mining and climate-damaging burning of coal, oil and gas in Germany.

This policy makes the energy transition more expensive and passes on a large part of the follow-up costs of fossil energies to society. This is the result of a study by the Forum Ökologisch-Soziale Marktwirtschaft (FÖS) commissioned by the independent environmental organisation Greenpeace. "Every euro squandered on dirty energies is an investment in further climate destruction," says Greenpeace energy expert Tobias Austrup. "There is still not a black zero for fossil subsidies, but a deep red minus in the federal budget." (The study online.)

Already in 2009, at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, the German government, together with the other governments, committed to ending fossil fuel subsidies, but without setting a date for the phase-out. "By 2020 at the latest, we must finally put an end to fuelling the climate catastrophe with billions in subsidies," Austrup demands. "A clear plan to phase out coal in Germany is needed so that the German government remains credible in foreign policy." In Italy and England, plans to phase out coal have already been adopted.

The lion's share of climate-damaging subsidies favours transport

The main beneficiary of fossil subsidies is transport with 28.5 billion euros. At just under eight billion euros, artificially cheap diesel is the largest single subsidy. The tax exemption for aviation fuel is worth 7.5 billion, the distance allowance a good five billion, the VAT exemption for international flights 4.4 billion and the company car privilege three billion. For a quarter of a century, transport has made no contribution whatsoever to climate protection. In 2016, according to the Federal Environment Agency, greenhouse gas emissions from transport were even one percent higher than in 1990.

"The transport turnaround cannot progress if internal combustion engines are supported with massive subsidies." The share of electric cars in new registrations in Germany was just 0.5 per cent in the first five months of 2017, according to the Federal Motor Transport Authority. Despite the German government's purchase premium, registration figures have barely risen.

Greenpeace study: Subsidies for fossil energies in Germany
Download link of the study

 



Keywords:
DE-News, Renewable, Climate protection, Media, Mobility, Sustainable management, New books and studies, Resource efficiency, Environmental policy, Ecology

„2000-Watt-Gesellschaft“ in Zürich
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"2000-watt society" in Zurich

In Zurich on 30 November 2008, it was approved by a 76 per cent majority that energy consumption should be reduced to 2000 watts of power per capita by 2050. The value in Switzerland is currently 6000 watts on average. The 2000-watt society has since been enshrined in the municipal code. "What is particularly special is how this is to be achieved," says economist Angelika Zahrnt (honorary chair of the environmental association BUND, former member of the Council for Sustainable Development and expert on the post-growth debate).

Zurich's city leaders explain that the 2000-watt society cannot be achieved through technical progress and more energy-efficient appliances alone. Progress also leads to the well-known rebound effect - increased efficiency often motivates consumers to consume more because of cost reductions. Often, more and larger appliances are then used and the savings are partially cancelled out. Even a switch to renewable energies alone does not help. According to the city of Zurich, "sufficiency is needed. That means using less energy, material and space and using resources more sparingly". As one of the few cities worldwide, Zurich is thus anchoring the question of what is the right measure in its policy.

Left:
www.stadt-zuerich.ch/...2000-watt_society.html



Keywords:
2000-watt society, Renewable, Climate protection, News Blog Europe (without DE), News Blog Switzerland, Quarters, Settlements, Sufficiency

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