In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that irradiance and PV production was more than 15% below normal during February across most of Europe, due to thick clouds in moist westerly winds from the Atlantic.
In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, offers bite-sized analysis on solar PV module supply and price trends.
The co-founder of a Lithuanian company which has developed a new exercise bike that can generate and store electricity makes the case for the contribution “energy harvesting from daily human activity” can make to the energy transition.
In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that persistent high pressure in the upper atmosphere led to irradiance as high as 30% above normal, and new records for solar generation and temperature in North America in mid-February.
In the first article of a series, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) presents data showing that we still have plenty of work to overcome external and internal barriers preventing women from pursuing STEM careers, accessing leadership roles, and being fairly represented across the whole value chain in the solar industry.
Spanish utility Endesa has activated a 1.1 MW/5.5 MWh redox flow battery in Spain. It says it is the vanadium redox flow storage system connected to a PV plant in Europe. It is situated near Mallorca, in the Balearic Islands.
France’s TotalEnergies says it has signed 1.5 GW of on-site solar power purchase agreements (PPAs) with more than 600 industrial and commercial customers in more than 30 countries.
Cuban Minister of Energy Vicente de la O Levy says 2 GW of planned solar capacity will come from 92 ground-mounted PV plants spread across the island.
Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co. (Masdar) has connected the first phase of a 511 MW solar project in Uzbekistan, linking the initial units of two solar plants. Chinese manufacturer TrinaTracker has supplied the plants with 11,248 sets of Vanguard 1P trackers.
TeraPlast SA has secured financing for 4.56 MW of solar, with approximately one-quarter of the project’s total value obtained through non-refundable financing from the Romanian government’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The project, which will include a 920 kW storage facility, is set to be completed in June.
Solar Brother, a French startup, has developed a solar aerothermal system for space heating. The system incorporates a PV panel, an aerothermal heat pump module, and cassette filtration, enabling homeowners to save on heating.
Solarcont has developed a portable, containerized PV system featuring 240 solar modules on a folding system for easy removal and storage.
The Chinese manufacturer said its new residential storage system is an ideal solution for balcony PV system. The battery features a maximum input power of 1,200 W and a maximum output power of 800 W.
Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd (MSEDCL) has started accepting bids to provide 1,000 MW/8,000 MWh of grid-connected energy storage capacity from pumped hydro storage throughout India.
The Lithuanian module manufacturer has unveiled 37O W bifacial dual glass modules for carports featuring 3 mm glass on both sides and an anodized aluminum frame. The new products are certified as overhead glazing by the German Institute for Building Technology (DIBt), with a class 4 hail resistance and efficiency of 19.57%.
Researchers led by Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) recorded an 11% efficiency on 50 cm² large-scale solar panels consisting of optimized roll-to-roll fabricated hybrid perovskite solar cells.
Chinese manufacturer DAH Solar says its new double-glass panels have a power conversion efficiency of 22.65% and a power output of up to 585 W.
Bulgarian businesses can apply for funding under two new tenders that aim to facilitate 1,425 MW of renewable energy generation capacity coupled with 350 MW of energy storage. Funding support is only offered for the storage component.
The new panel has a white backsheet and a temperature coefficient of -0.34/C. It weighs 4.1 kg per m2 and, according to the manufacturer, supports all types of installation methods, including roof adhesive and removal mechanical mounting.
New tests conducted by the Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute have shown that vertical PV installations offer improved fire safety compared to conventional diagonal or flat solar arrays. The experiment showed, in particular, how rapidly a fire can propagate under inclined panels.
Canadian custom module manufacturer Capsolar developed a vehicle integrated PV system (VIPV) for an electric material towing application, reportedly enabling 30% to 40% range increase per battery charge.
A European consortium of 11 commercial and non-profit organizations is developing several technologies to make use of end-of-life PV panels by either re-deploying them or by recovering and reprocessing the silicon.
A team of scientists from China and the United States studied ways to optimize floating photovoltaics for offshore use. It found that the robustness of the systems was influenced by the size and number of platforms, as well as the types of connections between platforms.
Scientists in Oman have analyzed the effect of soiling, cleaning, and water injection on the performance of PV panels in Oman. They have found the use of water for cooling may increase power yield by up to 23.9%.
Switzerland-based Meyer Burger had a PV module inventory of 365 MW at the end of 2023. The closure of its panel factory in Freiberg, Germany, will only be reversed if there are very strong political signals, said CEO Gunter Erfurt.
Battery storage revenues in Britain are well below historic highs but an appetite for storage capacity remains. Electricity system-operator modernization, increased competition, and new opportunities could all shape the future of British battery energy storage systems (BESS’).
DNV has started working on blending feasibility studies in the Canadian province of British Columbia, while the US Department of Energy has announced $750 million in funding for 52 hydrogen projects across 24 states.
Researchers in Italy have estimated the profitability of future vanadium redox flow batteries based on real device and market parameters and found that market evolutions are heading to much more competitive systems, with capital costs down to €260/kWh at a storage duration of 10 hours.
The 247Solar Plants are modular and most of the components are mass produced and can be assembled on site.
Thyssenkrupp nucera and Fraunhofer IKTS want to develop and mass produce electrolyzers based on solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) technology. They are now setting up a pilot plant in Germany that is scheduled to start operations in about a year.