The proposed review analyses the inventive activity of the major participants who registered their patent applications in 2019 in the field related to Concentrated Solar Power (concentrator photovoltaics, parabolic trough, linear Fresnel reflector, solar tower etc.). In total, 1316 patent applications accepted for detailed analysis by 38 patent offices around the world and prepared by 706 applicants from 40 countries were collected for...

NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE) was incorporated in 1984 and is one of the largest electric power and energy infrastructure companies in North America and a leader in the renewable energy industry. NEE has two principal businesses, FPL and NEER. FPL is the largest electric utility in the state of Florida and one of the largest electric utilities in the U.S. NEER is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun. ...

Concentrated Solar Power is one of the most important developing sectors of renewable energy. Despite the slowdown of business in this sector in Spain and the USA, which happened primarily due to the rapid and widespread proliferation of more commercially-viable photovoltaic power generating systems, concentrating technologies still exist and are in the phase of adapting to modern conditions. To a great extent this is promoted by...

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants have been in use for energy production for a long time. Among the commonly used designs are parabolic trough systems, which employ heat absorber tubes along curved concentrating mirrors to absorb solar energy. During this process the organic-based fluid that delivers heat from the parabolic trough receivers to the electricity-generating steam turbine undergoes a small but constant thermal...

As the prices for solar modules have constantly been decreasing in the international market for many years, cost reduction is crucial for module manufacturers to remain competitive. One possibility to cut costs is to reduce the content of silver in a solar module, which is contained in its contact fingers. Contact fingers, i.e. its conductive lines made of metal, are applied to the solar cell surface to transport the produced energy...

Canadian Solar is one of the world’s largest solar power companies, providing solar power products, services and system solutions and operating in North America, South America, Europe, South Africa, the Middle East, Australia and Asia. The company designs, develops and manufactures solar ingots, wafers, cells, modules and other solar power products. The company is incorporated in Canada and conducts most of manufacturing operations in...

Perovskite‐based solar cells have been at the centre of scientific interest for several years due to their low cost and high photovoltaic (PV) performance. In addition to their success in the PV sector, there have been growing efforts to employ perovskites in energy‐efficient technologies, such as smart windows and other building technologies because of their large absorption coefficient and colour tunability. Smart windows have the...

An independent climate think-tank, Ember, focused on accelerating the global electricity transition from coal to fossil-free has published its new Global Electricity Review, giving insights into electricity generation & demand worldwide. The report presents data for 2019 across 217 countries covering 85% of the world’s electricity production. First and foremost, the report focuses on coal-fired electricity, which fell by 3% (-259 TWh)...

Solar panel efficiency is a measurement of a solar panel’s ability to convert sunlight into usable electricity. If the same amount of sunlight shines on two solar panels with different efficiency ratings for the same period of time, the more efficient panel will produce more electricity than the less efficient panel. Most solar panels show efficiencies between 15% and 20%, with outliers on either side of the range....

Photovoltaic modules use light energy (photons) from the Sun to generate electricity through the photovoltaic effect. Most modules use wafer-based crystalline silicon cells or thin-film cells. The structural (load carrying) member of a module can be either the top layer or the back layer. Most modules are rigid, but semi-flexible ones based on thin-film cells are also available. The cells are connected electrically in series, one to...