461 articles
Heliostat
A heliostat is a mirror that tracks the sun on two axes to reflect sunlight onto a fixed target, as in concentrating solar power towers.
Hemlock Semiconductor Operations
Hemlock Semiconductor Operations (HSC) is an American producer of hyper-pure polysilicon based in Hemlock, Michigan, founded in 1979 and supplying the semiconductor and solar energy industries.
HERIC inverter
The HERIC inverter is a transformerless single-phase photovoltaic inverter topology combining an H-bridge with an AC-side bypass leg that suppresses ground leakage current while keeping efficiency high.
Heterojunction solar cell
A heterojunction solar cell, also called silicon heterojunction (SHJ) or HIT, is a crystalline silicon wafer solar cell passivated by thin amorphous silicon layers, reaching record efficiencies above 26%.
High-voltage pulse fragmentation
High-voltage pulse fragmentation is a comminution method in which short, high-voltage discharges in liquid break composites selectively along material interfaces, used mainly for recycling photovoltaic modules, concrete, and batteries.
Hoke effect
The Hoke effect, first reported in 2015 by Eric T. Hoke at Stanford, is the reversible light-induced phase segregation of mixed-halide perovskites into iodide-rich and bromide-rich domains.
Horizon Solar
Horizon Solar is a 200-megawatt utility-scale solar power plant near Pearsall in Frio County, Texas, owned by Leeward Renewable Energy and selling its output to Verizon.
Hosting capacity
Hosting capacity is the maximum amount of distributed energy resources, including rooftop solar and battery storage, that an existing electric distribution grid can accommodate safely without infrastructure upgrades.
Hot spot in photovoltaic modules
A hot spot in a photovoltaic module is localized excessive heating that forms when shading or a cell defect forces a solar cell into reverse bias, damaging the module.
Hot-carrier solar cell
A hot-carrier solar cell is a proposed photovoltaic device that extracts photoexcited carriers before they cool, proposed by Ross and Nozik in 1982 with a theoretical efficiency of 66%.
HPBC
HPBC is a high-efficiency back-contact solar cell technology developed by the Chinese manufacturer LONGi, entering mass production in 2022 in the Hi-MO 6 module series.
Hysteresis in perovskite solar cells
Hysteresis in perovskite solar cells is the dependence of a cell's measured efficiency on the direction and rate of the voltage sweep, first reported in 2014.
IEC 61215
IEC 61215 is an International Electrotechnical Commission standard for design qualification and type approval of terrestrial photovoltaic modules, first published in 1993 and split since 2016 into parts covering test requirements and procedures.
IEC 61724
IEC 61724 is a series of International Electrotechnical Commission standards covering photovoltaic system performance, originally published in 1998 and split into parts on monitoring, capacity evaluation, and energy evaluation.
III-V multijunction solar cell
A III-V multijunction solar cell stacks semiconductor junctions, typically gallium indium phosphide and gallium arsenide, that split the solar spectrum to reach record efficiencies. It powers most satellites.
III-V/Si solar cell
A III-V/Si solar cell is a tandem photovoltaic device stacking a III-V semiconductor top cell, such as GaAs, on silicon to convert more sunlight than either material alone.
Indoor organic photovoltaics
Indoor organic photovoltaics (IOPVs) are organic solar cells tuned to convert artificial light from LEDs and fluorescent lamps into electricity, powering low-consumption IoT devices indoors.
Indoor photovoltaics
Indoor photovoltaics are photovoltaic devices that convert ambient indoor light from lamps and daylight into electricity, primarily powering batteryless IoT sensors and other low-power electronics; leading technologies include perovskite, organic, and dye-sensitized cells.
InP quantum dot solar cells
InP quantum dot solar cells are photovoltaic devices using colloidal indium phosphide nanocrystals as the light-absorbing layer, studied as a low-toxicity alternative to lead- and cadmium-based quantum dots.
Integral collector-storage system
An integral collector-storage (ICS) system, also called a batch collector, is a passive solar water heater in which the collector and storage tank are one unit, typically used as a solar preheater.
Integrated solar combined cycle
An integrated solar combined cycle plant is a natural gas combined-cycle plant in which solar thermal energy adds steam to boost the steam turbine's output.
Interdigitated back contact solar cell
An interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cell is a crystalline silicon photovoltaic cell with both metal contacts interlocked on the rear surface, eliminating front-side shading and reaching efficiencies above 25%.
Interface passivation
Interface passivation is the treatment of layer boundaries in semiconductor devices, most prominently perovskite solar cells, to reduce defect states, suppress non-radiative recombination, and block degradation pathways.
Interfacial dipole engineering in perovskite solar cells
Interfacial dipole engineering in perovskite solar cells (PSCs) inserts oriented molecular dipole layers at device interfaces, tuning energy-level alignment, passivating defects, and improving efficiency and stability.
Interfacial engineering in solar cells
Interfacial engineering in solar cells is the deliberate design of boundaries between a photovoltaic device's functional layers to cut recombination losses, align energy levels, and improve efficiency and stability.
Interleaved boost converter
An interleaved boost converter (IBC) is a DC-DC boost converter built from two or more boost phases switched in parallel with a phase shift, cutting ripple and device stress.
Intermediate band solar cell
The intermediate band solar cell (IBSC) is a proposed photovoltaic device with an extra band inside the semiconductor bandgap, proposed in 1997 with a theoretical efficiency limit of 63%.
Intersolar Europe
Intersolar Europe is one of the world's largest solar industry exhibitions, held annually at Messe München in Munich and covering photovoltaics, solar thermal, and storage.
Inverted organic solar cell
An inverted organic solar cell reverses the conventional layer order of an organic solar cell, placing the electron-collecting cathode on the substrate for better air stability.
Inverted perovskite solar cell
An inverted perovskite solar cell is a perovskite photovoltaic device built in the p-i-n layer order, reversing conventional n-i-p stacking, with certified efficiencies exceeding 27%.