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CFD tests show wind resistance in vertical rooftop PV systems

Norwegian startup Over Easy has validated the wind resistance of its vertical PV system for rooftops by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The simulations, conducted by I.F.I. Institut für Industrieaerodynamik GmbH, confirm that the system does not experience lift, even at wind speeds of up to 47 meters per second.
Manufacturing

Foldable, textured silicon wafers for flexible heterojunction solar cells

An international research team in China has used Czochralski n-type c-Si wafers from China-based Sichuan Yongxiang to build textured wafers with a thickness ranging from 65 μm to 55 μm. They have used the wafers in heterojunction solar cells ton hit ef...
Energy Storage

Japanese group unveils fuel cell system based on green hydrogen, waste plastic

A Japanese consortium is now testing a 100 kW fuel cell system in Tokyo. The system uses green hydrogen and waste plastic hydrogen to provide heat to an industrial building. The demonstration aims to establish an urban hydrogen energy utilization model t...
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The role of monitoring in managing power and maximizing returns: Indian C&I segment in focus

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AI or not AI for fault prediction and climate risk assessment in solar plants: misconceptions and facts

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Approaching bankability for grid-scale energy storage

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Geração distribuída em ano de adaptação

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Grid-forming inverters: What advanced grid functionalities should inverters offer?

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Installations

PV system collapses on roof of sports facility in Spain

The mayor of Bilbao, Spain, has attributed the recent collapse of a local sports center's roof to heavy rains and the presence of numerous solar panels, according to local news outlets.
Markets & Policy

Gautam Solar to add 500 MW of TOPCon panel production capacity

India's Gautam Solar is expanding its solar module production capacity to 1 GW by adding a 500 MW tunnel-oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) manufacturing line from Jinchen. The new line will start production by September.
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Markets & Policy

Portugal launches floating solar tender

Portugal will auction off five projects with a combined capacity of 4.5 MW. They require a total investment of around €4.3 million ($4.6 million).
Installations

Australia’s largest commercial microgrid goes online

Australia’s largest grid-connected urban microgrid has been officially commissioned with a new rooftop solar-powered system on Ikea’s store in Adelaide. It already delivers more than 70% of the store’s energy needs and provides grid support for the...
Technology

Sheep grazing team to reduce solar mowing costs by more than 44%

About 70 Katahdin breed sheep were dropped off at the Oberlin College campus in Ohio last week. They will graze through mid-June, stomping grass and weeding the solar field in a move aimed at reducing operations and maintenance costs.

Press Releases

Astronergy gains ‘Top Performer 2023’ title from PVEL

Astronergy, a top 6 PV industry player worldwide and pioneer in n-type TOPCon PV modules, has been awarded the ‘2023 Top Performer’ title in the annual PV Evolution Labs (PVEL) PV Module Reliability Scorecard and has received its seventh ‘Top Performer’ trophy at a ceremony held in SNEC PV Power Expo, Shanghai, China, on May 25th.

N-type Technology Pioneer Yingli Solar Maintains High Popularity in SNEC

With new looks, new products, new development, and a new future, Yingli Solar attracted flocks of visitors to its stand at W1-310 of the 16th (2023) International Photovoltaic Power Generation and Smart Energy Conference & Exhibition on its opening day.

LIVOLTEK showcases its latest renewable energy solution All-in-One Energy storage system (ESS) at SNEC PV POWER EXPO at Shanghai, China at N3-390 on May 24-26, 2023!

LIVOLTEK participates the SNEC with its innovative and best-selling solar products, and signed the Strategic Cooperation Agreement with TÜV Rheinland; concurrently, the Hexing Group, the parent company of LIVOLTEK, and TW Solar signed a 500MW Framework Agreement during the exhibition's opening day.

Astronergy, TSUN innovative residential PV energy solution blows at SNEC

Eye on ever-growing residential demands for PV power generation solutions, Astronergy cooperated with TSUN, a competitive PV micro-inverter and energy storage supplier, and launched an innovative residential PV energy solution at SNEC Expo in Shanghai on May 24, combining both sides’ advantages products to offer safe and greener energy for residential scenario worldwide.

Opinion & Analysis

Featured

Smoke from early fire season impacts irradiance across North America

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, presents the solar irradiance data it collected for North America since early May. The province of Alberta saw close to 100 wildfires raging from the beginning of the month and solar asset operators throughout the impacted regions can expect reduced efficiency from both the irradiance impacts and increased panel soiling.

Cell prices slip, weighed down by sustained falling upstream prices

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.

New episodes of negative or zero prices in European electricity markets

In the third week of May, negative or zero hourly prices were registered in most of the European electricity markets, especially during the weekend. In the Nord Pool market, the value of -€5.67/MWh registered during an hour on Sunday May 21, is the lowest one in history. For the week as a whole, prices decreased in every market, due to the decrease in demand and gas prices, and also to a higher solar and wind energy production than that of the previous week in several markets.

Biofuels vs. solar electricity for urban mobility

Solar electricity will have to compete with biofuels in the urban mobility landscape. Biofuels, however, have a very low energy productivity per hectare, as well as high requirements for fertilizers, pesticides, and water.

Solar dawn

Frank Haugwitz arrived in China in June 2002 as technical adviser to the solar-focused Sino-German Renewable Energies in Rural Areas Program. He has directly observed the nation’s rise to solar superpower status.

Falling wafer prices continue to make headway for downstream prices

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.

Covid-19

Producing the goods

Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) is demonstrating how a solar-powered refrigeration unit and dryer could be self-sustaining and improve food security in Kenya.

African PAYG solar companies have hogged 72% of sector’s investment

The first post-pandemic update on the state of the world’s off-grid solar industry has painted a picture of domination by European companies, but highlighted the potential for new startups in West Africa and an increasing use of PV as a backup to unreliable grid supplies.

Off-grid solar continues to expand

The off-grid solar sector has shown resilience in the face of pandemic-related challenges, with 70 million people gaining access to electricity from early 2020 to the end of 2021. However, the ability to pay for solar energy kits has taken a hit.

AfDB announces cheap loans to back off-grid solar in Africa

The African Development Bank has announced that European and US donors will provide $20 million of concessional loans to support pay-as-you-go solar companies in sub-Saharan Africa.

SolarEdge reports record-breaking revenue

With comparisons with a Covid-hit 2020 inevitably offering a string of positive numbers, there was also little to concern the board of the inverter and battery manufacturer from the returns generated in the last quarter.

Solar job numbers kept on rising in 2020

The latest edition of a clean power jobs survey produced by IRENA and the International Labour Organization has stressed the important role which will need to be played by the public sector if the energy transition’s employment benefits are to be shared equally.

Markets & Policy

Featured

Asia takes the lead on floating PV

Floating PV is consolidating as a growth segment for PV demand, mainly driven by supportive policies and incentives extended by governments across the world. A major reason for this push is the limited land availability in many markets. Despite higher equipment prices compared to ground-mounted installations, developers see the opportunity to save on land and O&M costs. The output can also be as much as 30% higher than a ground-mount PV plant, depending on the site and technology used.

Solar module prices hit 2-year low

The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has published a new report focusing on core benchmarks for PV prices, deployment, and imports.

Sofar releases lithium iron phosphate battery for utility-scale applications

China-based Sofar has unveiled PowerMaster, a new modular utility-scale battery based on lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry. 

Weekend Read: Pushing perovskite PV limits

The perovskite solar race is heating up, with a cue of manufacturers forming to test products at the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) PV commercialization facilities, and academics on both sides of The Pond announcing new advances in recent months.

Anti-soiling PV coating delivers 3% boost in energy production

A study conducted in the semi-arid weather conditions of Ben Guerir, Morocco, evaluated the performance of antistatic and hydrophobic coatings for photovoltaic solar panels. After nine months of operation, the PV panels with coatings developed by Portuguese company ChemiTek produced an average of 3% more energy than the uncoated ones.

AES unit receives environmental impact approval for 862.5 MW solar-wind project in Chile

The Environmental Assessment Service (SEA) of the Chilean region of Antofagasta has approved the environmental impact assessment for the 862.5 MW Parque Terra Energía Renovable hybrid solar wind project.

Installations

Featured

Australia builds big

While the first half of 2022 was one of the busiest periods on record for new wind projects in Australia, with more than 2 GW breaking ground, solar got off to a much slower start with construction on 635 MW of new PV projects getting underway. Rystad Energy’s David Dixon attributes this slowdown to high cost and supply chain challenges and a lack of available power purchase agreements.

The Hydrogen Stream: Namibia to launch $10 billion hydrogen project

German investors have agreed to back a hydrogen project in Namibia, while Plug Power and Thyssenkrupp Nucera have announced separate hydrogen-related deals in Sweden.

Annual floating solar additions to top 6 GW by 2031, says WoodMac

The global floating solar (FPV) market is expected to keep up its steady growth, as the Asia-Pacific region continues to lead demand.

Dominican Republic grants three new concessions for 148 solar MW

The National Energy Commission of the Dominican Republic (CNE) has announced the granting of the definitive concession to three photovoltaic projects totaling 148 MW.

German municipalities encouraged to financially participate in solar parks

Local communities in Germany have the opportunity to operate ground-mounted PV systems via simplified contracts for existing systems or contracts for new, repowered systems.

Agrivoltaics can mitigate effects of drought

A new study by the University of Hohenheim shows that shading from PV systems can improve agricultural yields, especially in dry periods, but additional research is needed.

Technology

Featured

Copper is the new silver lining

As the PV industry scales to annual terawatt-level production to rapidly curtail the world’s emissions, it will become more challenging to continue the cost reduction trajectory. Increasing module production from current levels of 200 GW to 300 GW to several terawatts each year will consume significantly more material resources than the industry currently uses. This will require consideration of the additional materials to be sourced, writes Alison Lennon, chief scientist at Sundrive Solar and professor at the UNSW’s School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering.

Eging releases 580 W TOPCon PV module with 22.45% efficiency

China’s Eging has unveiled a new line of bifacial TOPCon solar panels based on n-type wafers and 182 mm cells. The modules have a temperature coefficient of -0.30% and efficiencies ranging from 21.67% to 22.45%.

Longi launches 590 W TOPCon solar panel with 22.8% efficiency

The new series comes in seven versions, with power outputs between 560 W and 590 W. The power conversion efficiency ranges between 21.7% and 22.8%

Inorganic perovskite PV cell hits 17.04% via fullerene-derivative interlayer

Researchers have achieved an efficiency boost of 15.44% to 17.04% in all-inorganic perovskite solar cells by incorporating a conductive fullerene-derivative interlayer between the perovskite and electron transport layers. They claim that this enhancement also improves thermal stability.

Yingi releases n-type TOPCon solar modules for offshore floating PV

Yingli is offering six versions of its new 144-cell Panda 3.0 PRO solar modules, with power outputs ranging from 555 W to 580 W and efficiencies ranging from 21.48% to 22.45%. The panels are designed for near-shore and offshore floating solar plants.

Oxford PV sets 28.6% efficiency record for full-size tandem cell

Oxford PV, a leading perovskite solar pv company with operations in England and Germany, achieved power conversion efficiency of 28.6% for a two-terminal perovskite-silicon tandem cell measuring 258.15 cm² cell: A world record for a device based on a ‘full size’ silicon wafer. The record was certified by Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE).

Manufacturing

Featured

Catalyst for an EU comeback

Plans for Europe’s largest-ever PV cell and module factory are taking shape, with equipment orders placed and a projected start date in mid-2024. Enel Green Power has received €118 million ($116.36 million) in funding from the EU Innovation Fund to support the project, out of a total €600 million investment. The EU is hoping it will catalyze further investment in similar projects, and start a high-tech comeback for European solar manufacturing.

Slenergy emerges as new one-stop solar shop for Europe

A new solar company has entered the PV market, pv magazine learned this week at SNEC in Shanghai. The company sells everything from PV modules and inverters to racking and wallboxes.

Winaico launches new 430 W n-type TOPCon solar module series

The compact bifacial glass-glass modules are to be delivered from the third quarter. They are available in two different variants with an efficiency of 22.02 and 21.76%.

Solarge opens first large-scale solar production line

Solarge, a Dutch panel manufacturer, says that its new factory will make two types of lightweight mono-PERC panels with low carbon footprints. It says it will design them to be reused at the end of their 25-year lifespans.

Chinese solar exports rose by 64% in 2022, says Wood Mackenzie

China exported 154 GW of PV modules, 24 GW of solar cells, and 41 GW of wafers in 2022. In 2026, annual cell and wafer exports could hit 230 GW and module shipments could reach 149 GW, according to Wood Mackenzie.

Five-junction III-V solar cell with 35.1% efficiency

Chinese researchers have used metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) to produce a 12 cm2, five-junction solar cell with a minimal number of mismatch dislocations. The cell has an open-circuit voltage of 4.727 V, a short-circuit current density of 860 mA/m2, and a fill factor of 86.38%.

Energy Storage

Featured

Cobalt clings on

Cobalt is key for boosting energy density and battery life, but it comes with caveats: expensive, scarce, and linked to unethical mining practices, wild price fluctuations, and a tenuous supply chain. In recent years, battery manufacturers and automakers have intensified efforts to reduce or eliminate cobalt in lithium-ion cathodes. But sometimes, old habits die hard, as pv magazine’s Marija Maisch explains.

Sonnen doubles production capacity for PV home storage systems in Germany

The Allgäu company has expanded production at its headquarters in Wildpoldsried and can now produce around 120,000 systems a year. Sonnen’s move to accelerate expansion reflects the sharp rise in demand for PV home storage systems in Germany.

Enphase launches new residential battery

The IQ Battery 5P works in conjunction with the Enphase Energy System and can be configured for self-consumption, savings, or full backup functionality.

The Hydrogen Stream: NEOM signs green hydrogen deal in Saudi Arabia

NEOM Green Hydrogen Company has secured an exclusive 30-year off-take agreement with Air Products for what they claim will be the world’s largest green hydrogen plant, while Germany’s EEX has launched the world’s first market-based hydrogen index.

Hanersun unveils high-voltage residential battery

Chinese module manufacturer Hanersun has introduced six versions of its new stackable, high-voltage residential batteries, ranging in nominal capacities from 7.5 kWh to 20 kWh. The batteries, which feature lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) technology, come with a five-year warranty.

EVLO unveils lithium iron phosphate battery for utility-scale applications

EVLO Energy Storage’s latest battery energy storage system (BESS) product, EVLOFLEX, is a fully integrated solution with configurable energy for 1.65 MWh, 2 MWh, or 2.5 MWh.

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