New solar cell records

The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Lab [Myles Steiner] has announced a world record of 31.1% conversion efficiency for a two-junction solar cell under one sun of illumination. (...) The previous record of 30.8% efficiency was held by Alta Devices. The tandem cell was made of a gallium indium phosphide cell atop a gallium arsenide cell, has an area of about 0.25 square centimeters and was measured under the AM1.5 global spectrum at 1,000 W/m2. It was grown inverted, similar to the NREL-developed inverted metamorphic multi-junction (IMM) solar cell -- and flipped during processing. The cell was covered on the front with a bilayer anti-reflection coating, and on the back with a highly reflective gold contact layer.

More info: Conversion-efficiency record for a two-junction solar cell measured under one-sun illumination

Sharp Corporation has achieved the world's highest solar cell conversion efficiency of 44.4%, using a concentrator triple-junction compound solar cell. These solar cells are used in a lens-based concentrator system that focuses sunlight on the cells to generate electricity. (...) Sharp's concentrator triple-junction compound solar cells use a proprietary technology that enables the efficient conversion of sunlight into electricity by means of a stack of three photo-absorption layers, the bottommost of which is made from InGaAs (indium gallium arsenide).To achieve a concentrating conversion efficiency of 44.4%, Sharp worked to widen the effective concentrator cell surface and ensure uniformity of width at the interface of the connecting concentrator cell and electrodes.

More info: Sharp Develops Concentrator Solar Cell with World's Highest Conversion Efficiency of 44.4%

EU announces provisional duties on Chinese solar products

EC press release
The European Commission announced yesterday that it will impose provisional antidumping duties on wafers, solar cells and modules imported from China. The duties will be valid for a period of six months and will come into force starting on June 6 with no retroactive effect. The Commission decided to introduce the duties according to a »phased approach« starting with an 11.8% tariff for the first 2 months. Following that, the tariff will be raised to 47.6% for the remaining 4 months. The Commission stated that the provisional antidumping duties will counteract unfair trade practices that have harmed the European solar industry. The Commission stressed that the level of the tariffs is significantly lower than the 88% rate at which Chinese manufacturers have been dumping their products on the EU market. Despite the fact that the Commission found that Chinese manufacturers have dumped their products on the market, it also reiterated its commitment to finding an amicable solution to the solar trade dispute through continued negotiations with Chinese companies and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. To this effect, the Commission said that »provisional duties can be suspended if a negotiated solution is achieved.« The EU will issue a final decision on the antidumping duties on Dec. 5, 2013.

Further news on the subject:

• EU Imposes Duties on Chinese Solar Panels, But Keeps Door Ajar for Talks at Renewable Energy World.
• Shares of solar power companies fell Wednesday after the European Union said it plans to slap tariffs on solar products made in China, says BusinessWeek.
• Tit-for-tat tariff war: European wines, Chinese solar panels, on CNN.

Portugal added only 1.1 MW of PV power in the first quarter

DGEG (Renováveis - Estatísticas Rápidas- Março 2013)
Portugal added just 1.1 of new PV capacity in the first quarter of 2013, according to the latest data from the Portuguese Directorate General for Geology and Energy. The country therefore now has a cumulative installed PV capacity of 226.6 MW. The newly installed capacity in the month of March was of around 900 kW, up from 200 kW installed in the first two months of this year. For comparison, Portugal added 67.8 MW of PV power last year. PV covered 0.7% of the country’s total electricity demand in March, the same value as was registered in February. Portugal currently only grants FITs to PV systems up to 250 kW in size. For 2013, the government has allocated 11 MW of PV capacity for micro-generation systems (up to 3.68 kW). The government has not said how much capacity it will allocate this year for mini-generation installations (up to 250 kW).

As Europe's Dominance Wanes, Others Pick Up Solar PV

Renewable Energy World
Europe's role as the main driver for the global solar photovoltaics (PV) market is coming to an end, concludes the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) in its latest report.
"The results show clearly" that Europe's dominance is declining, said the trade body in its Global Market Outlook for Photovoltaics 2013-2017. Europe accounted for more than 70 percent of the world's new PV installations in 2011, while in 2012 this number was around 55 percent, the report found. In 2013, said EPIA, it "is almost certain" that the majority of new global PV capacity will be installed outside Europe, and that this trend will continue.

China Divides European Union in Fight Over Tariffs

NYTimes.com
Adroitly alternating the threat of a trade war with the lure of its huge import market, China appears to have driven a deep wedge between Germany and the rest of the European Union. (...) Ms. Merkel said Germany would lobby against duties on Chinese panels. As Chinese and European trade officials stare each other down over next week’s scheduled imposition of big tariffs on the $27 billion worth of solar panels China sells to Europe each year, Germany has come down on China’s side. Notably, Berlin is backing Beijing, even though Europe’s biggest producer of solar equipment, SolarWorld, is a German company that desperately wants the European Union to impose tariffs on the Chinese equipment. Unless the bloc backs off under German pressure, tariffs averaging nearly 50 percent would go into effect June 6, to punish China for the ostensible “dumping” of solar panels at below cost in Europe.
“Europe cannot succumb to blackmail — dumping is illegal, and the E.U. is obliged to defend itself by applying the international trade law,” said Milan Nitzschke, a spokesman for SolarWorld and the president of ProSun, a lobbying group for the European solar energy industry. But many other German companies, which rely more heavily than other European manufacturers on China as a significant market for their exports — whether Volkswagen cars or Siemens factory equipment or various other goods — fear that the dispute over solar panels could lead to an all-out trade war with China, which would be disastrous for their businesses. So far, the German government appears to agree.

Equipa de estudantes portugueses triunfa nos Ericsson Application Awards

www.computerworld.com.pt
A equipa portuguesa GreenSpark [da Universidade a Madeira] triunfou na categoria de estudantes nos Ericsson Application Awards 2013, com a aplicação Sun Monitor para monitorização de sistemas de energia solar residenciais. (...) Segundo a organização, o Sun Monitor “reduz a complexidade de manter e monitorizar um sistema de energia solar residencial, através de um dispositivo plug-and-play, com recurso a tecnologia de cloud computing”. O júri seleccionou a GreenSpark por “a equipa se ter focado no desempenho das células solares numa altura em que o consumo de energia e a eficiência energética ganham cada vez mais destaque, e de ter desenvolvido uma aplicação com benefícios óbvios para os utilizadores e para todos os stakeholders no ramo da energia”.

Mais informações sobre o projecto aqui.

U.S., EU Said to Be in Talks With China to End Solar Spat

Bloomberg
The Obama administration is engaged in preliminary talks with the European Union and China to settle a dispute over trade in solar-energy equipment and avoid a conflict among the world’s largest economies, according to people familiar with the discussions.
The effort is focused on setting a quota on Chinese exports and a minimum price for solar-energy equipment, in exchange for suspending U.S. duties on the goods, according to two people familiar with the U.S. position who asked not to be identified to discuss private deliberations.