As solar module prices continue to fall, pvXchange.com founder Martin Schachinger explains how price pressure could increase in the weeks and months to come.
In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that dust storms and slear skies led to contrasting March Solar Performance in West Asia. The Arabian Peninsula experienced humid winds and dust storms that reduced solar irradiance to 90% of typical levels for the month.
In another article of a series on gender equality, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice Mariyana Yaneva, Vice Chair at the Association for production, storage and trading with electricity (APSTE). She explains that policies allowing childcare needs to be met but not placing the burden of care explicitly on women, increase the chances that women can build the business acumen and professional contacts necessary to qualify for a corporate board.
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.
Dismissed by many in the solar industry as an overly-complex, outdated technology, concentrated solar power (CSP) is set for a comeback thanks to a scaled-down, modular approach.
Denmark will procure at least 6 GW of offshore wind power capacity to potentially produce hydrogen, while Orlen says it will use a European Commission grant to build 16 hydrogen refueling stations in Poland.
China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) says the nation installed more than 47 GW of solar in the first three months of this year.
The provisions cover all products and do not target specific companies or industries. They will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union tomorrow. EU member countries will have three years to enforce them.
France’s new feed-in tariffs (FITs) for the period from May to July 2024 range from €0.1735 ($0.1850)/kWh for installations below 3 kW to €0.1141/kWh for arrays ranging in size from 100 kW to 500 kW.
Stefan Wippich, the CEO and co-founder of Germany’s SecondSol platform, recently spoke with pv magazine about the development of the used PV module market. Wippich noted national differences and argued that it will be important to set rules for the trading of secondhand products.
Solargis says that Indian solar operators have experienced below-average PV panel performance due to air pollution in each of the past five winters. Northern India experienced the worst air quality in decades this January, with data showing a 30% to 50% dip in solar irradiance due to high aerosol levels.
Two Korean research institutes are designing the 2.2 km × 2.7 km Korean Space Solar Power Satellite project with the aim of providing approximately 1 TWh of electricity to the Earth per year. The proposed system should use 4,000 sub-solar arrays of 10 m × 270 m, made out of thin film roll-out, with a system power efficiency of 13.5%.
Researchers in Sweden have analyzed how roll-bonded PVT collectors can act as secondary heat sources in ground-source heat pumps and have found they provide a better performance than conventional PVT panels. Their techno-economic analysis also showed roll-bonded PVT systems can be up to 9% more expensive than conventional installations based on sheet and tube absorbers.
A new report from Wood Mackenzie examines how the global shift to higher interest rates to combat inflation is squeezing the energy transition.
Germany-based Sinn Power plans to build a 1.8 MW floating PV system with vertically deployed solar modules. Construction is expected to start this summer.
A Dutch research team have developed a solar radiation forecasting model that uses the long short-term memory (LSTM) technique. The proposed methodology reportedly achieves better results than other forecasting approaches.
The latest supply chain report from the Hong Kong-based technical compliance and quality assurance company covers the Southeast Asia region, providing information about 50 manufacturing sites.
Indian scientists have designed a water-pump drive system that is powered exclusively by photovoltaics. The proposed system configuration reportedly ensures effective use of both the solar modules and the motor.
Researchers in Malaysia have simulated a mixed cation perovskite solar cell integrating tin and germanium in the absorber. By modulating the perovksite layer thickness, they were able to achieve an efficiency ranging from 24.25 % to 31.49 %
German researchers are studying using an overhead solar PV system, designed to be removable and reusable, as a sunshade for young fir trees. The pilot, located at a quartz sand excavation site, will be monitored to compare growth and water consumption with an adjacent unshaded tree plot.
Maxeon has filed two different lawsuits in the United States against Hanwha Qcells and REC over claims that the two manufacturers used an unspecified tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cell technology.
Enphase Energy says that Octopus Energy’s retail customers will be able to integrate solar and battery systems into their energy plans in the UK market, with the introduction of Enphase IQ8 microinverters and the IQ battery 5P platform.
Japan-based solar manufacturer Vsun’s new facility produces n-type silicon wafers and is expected to be ready for full production by the end of the month.
Premier Energies has filed draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for an initial public offering (IPO). The company says it will partly use the proceeds to fund 4 GW of tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cell and module production.
Demand for silver in the photovoltaic industry hit 193.5 million ounces in 2023, according to the Silver Institute. It predicts that demand will grow by another 20% in 2024.
The new heat pumps use R-454B as a refrigerant and are specifically designed to be matched with Johnson Controls’ residential gas furnaces. Their size ranges from 1.5 tons to 5 tons and their coefficient of performance (COP) spans between 3.24 and 3.40, according to the manufacturer.
Linde says its White Martins unit will build a second electrolyzer to produce green hydrogen in Brazil, while Sunfire has launched a front-end engineering and design study (FEED) for a new 500 MW hydrogen project.
Netherlands-based developer Giga Storage has obtained the irrevocable permit for the construction of a 600 MW/2,400 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) project in Belgium.
The Dutch government has earmarked €100 million ($106.7 million) of subsidies for the deployment of battery storage alongside PV projects. The funds are part of a €416 million subsidy program announced last year to alleviate grid congestion.
AleaSoft and SolarPower Europe inform pv magazine that negative energy prices in Europe are related to the pandemic, low demand, insufficient storage solutions, and inadequate energy planning. They say this situation will likely continue into the summer.