Press Releases

The encapsulation of solar cells is of great importance for the overall performance of a solar module. Only if this has a seamless finish, protection of the solar cells from environmental influences can be guaranteed. In a new project, Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics CSP and its partners are investigating the ideal degree of cross-linking for module reliability in order to increase the stability, reliability of supply, system performance and productivity of photovoltaic systems.

The Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics CSP in Halle (Saale) has been awarded as one of "Germany's most innovative companies" for the fourth time in a row. The ranking is compiled by the business magazine »Capital« in cooperation with the market research service provider »Statista« and is based on surveys among industry and innovation experts.

Materials scientist Prof. Dr. Erica Lilleodden has been appointed as director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS. She takes over this post from Prof. Dr. Matthias Petzold, who had successfully led the institute on an interim basis since October 2019. With its expertise in microstructure diagnostics and microstructure-based materials design, the institute in Halle (Saale), Germany, makes important contributions to the optimization of materials and the development of new materials.

The next generation of solar cells will contribute significantly to a sustainable power supply on a global scale. For state of the art technologies such as PERC (Passivated emitter and rear cell, a team from the Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics CSP has now researched an active mechanism that can be used to optimize high-performance cells.

Automated and measurement-based process control as a new path to a photovoltaic industry 4.0: The Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics CSP aims to drive technological developments in international photovoltaics for competitive production processes from Germany with an industry-oriented platform that offers the possibility of interplay between statistical quality control and new approaches to data-based process analysis.

More data, more collaboration, more opportunities for photovoltaics: A new platform for investigating the performance and reliability of solar systems in different environments and climate zones worldwide will provide an important basis for an even broader and more efficient use of solar energy. The Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaic CSP in Halle (Saale) is among the founding members of the recently launched PV CAMPER platform.

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), an innovative optical surface analysis technique, opens up a broad range of applications. This measurement method enables the elemental composition of solid, liquid or gaseous substances to be determined in a contactless manner. At the Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics CSP in Halle (Saale), LIBS technology combined with powerful evaluation algorithms is used to carry out precise and extremely rapid multi-element analyses. In a study published recently in which fluorine loss during the melting of bioactive glasses and glass-ceramics was examined, technicians at the Fraunhofer CSP demonstrated the effectiveness of LIBS.

In the project entitled Reliability Design, the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS together with other partners plans to develop an efficient and trustworthy method for predicting the reliability and working life of inverters for use in photovoltaic and battery storage systems. The method could make a significant contribution to reducing the costs of generating electricity.

The Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics CSP presents innovative contributions to quality control in the solar industry at the Intersolar trade fair from 15.-17. May 2019 in Munich. Visitors will be able to experience a mobile test device for the PID susceptibility of solar modules, get to know new approaches for the reliable design of lightweight modules and find out how to optimize complex processes, for example, for the evaluation of yield by evaluating measured data.