By Julian Singer The UK government’s recently published Energy Security Plan opens by stating that “This Plan sets out…to ensure that the UK is more energy independent, secure and resilient”, and continues “We want our energy to be cheap, clean and British”. It is therefore surprising to read thirty-five pages later that the government is [...]
By Barney Smith Oxford PV is a private company, originally a spin-off from Oxford University, with world-class expertise in the use of perovskite photovoltaics and solar cells. The firm’s web-site states “its low-cost, highly efficient photovoltaic technology, when integrated with standard silicon solar cells, will dramatically improve performance”. Their tandem solar cells will deliver significantly [...]
By Oliver Nelson-Drummett Efficiency is often the most highly considered factor for a solar cell amongst the research community. It is defined as the electrical power that a solar cell module outputs compared to the solar influx of power that falls on that module, expressed as a percentage. Recently, perovskites have exploded onto the scene, [...]
Oxford PV expects to have its first perovskite-silicon tandem solar panels deployed in the field in 2019. In a presentation as part of the Oxford Energy Colloquia series on 26 February, Dr. Chris Case, Chief Technology Officer of Oxford PV, made the case for solar energy and explained the path the company had taken since [...]
Varun Sivaram is worried that solar energy might follow the same path as nuclear: initial enthusiasm followed by disillusion caused, in nuclear’s case, by lack of social acceptance and cost. As a Rhodes scholar who researched perovskite cells and with degrees from Stanford in both engineering physics and international relations he is well placed to [...]
The last year has been up and down for the Indian solar industry. It started well with some record low auction bids in February, for example Rs3.3 per kWh (£36 per MWh) for a project of 750MW in Madhya Pradesh. The project was accompanied by new payment guarantees and the introduction of a “deemed generation [...]
At first sight you might think that a 10 MW onshore wind farm and a 10 MW solar array would produce the same electrical power. Far from it. In the UK, the wind farm should produce nearly three times the amount of electricity over a year. Why the big difference? It all comes down to [...]