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Solar panels could be about to get much better at capturing sunlight

6 July 2023

Silicon-based solar cells have a theoretical efficiency limit of around 30 per cent, but adding a perovskite layer enables new designs to harvest more energy

Bendy solar panels are just as good as regular ones

24 May 2023

Existing solar cells are normally only used on flat, static surfaces to avoid them cracking, but now there is a flexible alternative with the same energy-generating efficiency

Pleco, the world?s lightest autonomous waterless solar panel cleaning robot. The robot is specifically designed to handle the unique safety and efficiency challenges involved in cleaning C&I installations.

Solar panel cleaning robot can be dropped off and picked up by drone

27 January 2023

Dirty solar panels reduce global solar energy output as much as 5 per cent, but a start-up in Israel has tested drone delivery of a new autonomous robot to clean rooftop arrays

Why the US military could replace spy satellites with solar planes

3 November 2022

The US military has spent billions of dollars on spy satellites and supersonic surveillance aircraft, but now it seems to be focusing on slow, lightweight solar-powered planes to do the same job

Outdoor test on the River Cam (UK), in front of the Bridge of Sighs, St John?s College, during a cloudy day

Floating artificial leaf converts energy from sunlight into fuel

17 August 2022

A solar fuel cell that produces carbon monoxide and hydrogen is light enough to float on water, which could help address the shortage of land available for solar projects

Flying at some 65,000ft, the ultra-lightweight Zephyr S is uniquely capable of providing persistent surveillance or communications over the same area of land or sea for weeks at a time without landing.

Zephyr solar-powered drone smashes record with 2-month-long flight

15 August 2022

The Airbus Zephyr S, a military reconnaissance aircraft, has more than doubled the record it set in 2018 for an uncrewed flight duration

Roasting green chile on top of Sandia National Laboratories? National Solar Thermal Test Facility. Roasting green chile with concentrated sunlight instead of propane produces flavorful chile and reduces carbon dioxide emissions.

Roasting green chillies in the sun could pave way for solar cooking

10 August 2022

An experiment using solar concentrators, which focus sunlight to a point, to roast green chillies suggests it may be possible to build portable solar cookers

Solar panels that work at night produce enough power to charge a phone

5 April 2022

Solar panels are cooler than the night air, creating a temperature difference that can be exploited to produce electricity

Static electricity can keep desert solar panels free of dust

11 March 2022

Dust drastically lowers the output of solar panels, but applying an electric field to the panels can make dust particles repel each other and disperse