While solar modules and inverters can greatly influence the output of a planned solar project, it is important not to overlook how to select and design cabling systems for your solar plant – for safety as well as generation considerations. Ye Qilin, a senior system engineer at Huawei’s FusionSolar smart PV and energy storage business, runs us through some dos and don’ts.

Following a disappointing COP27 climate change summit in November, solar industry veteran Philip Wolfe reviews the contribution utility-scale PV is starting to make to emissions reduction.

Ambitious targets for solar energy generation present challenges to an industry keen to explore new avenues for solar production. Neil Spann, chief executive of UK thin film solar manufacturer Power Roll, describes a commercial solution to the problems of over reliance on silicon solar modules.

Three import deals signed by the EU at Sharm El Sheikh during this month’s COP27 summit show the European Union is serious about harnessing green hydrogen for its heavy industry, and about distributing the fruits of the energy transition on an equitable basis.

The PV sector has significant implications for the economy, society and the environment. Positive impacts show that PV is a key contributor on the path to sustainability, and that highlighting these benefits could raise social and political acceptance in the transition to sustainable energy.

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.

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.

The International Renewable Energy Agency’s latest annual report on the progress towards UN sustainable development goal seven estimates 670 million people will still lack electricity in 2030, and more than 2 billion will be reliant on unhealthy, polluting cooking methods.

It should come as no surprise that clean energy spending is a big chunk of Warsaw’s four-year EU grant and loans package, given that the nation’s grid-connected solar capacity rose from 3.99 GW at the end of 2020 to 6.3 GW four months ago, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.

The clean power numbers published annually by the International Renewable Energy Agency provide a snapshot of the global solar market and, this year, a lot of figures were unchanged from the previous dataset, especially in the off-grid segment.

A Chinese-Australian research group has created a new sodium-sulfur battery that purportedly provides four times the energy capacity of lithium-ion batteries. They say it is far cheaper to produce and offers the potential to dramatically reduce energy storage costs.

Vins Raïmat has built a 30 kW vertical solar installation as part of a 300 kW PV system at its winery in the Catalonian town of Raïmat, Spain. It protects the wine tubs from the sun while also reducing their energy consumption.

Indian developer Adani Green has commissioned a 450 MW wind-solar power plant in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It has reached 1.44 GW of cumulative hybrid power generation capacity.

Italy’s solar sector is poised for growth over the next two years, according to participants in the recent Italia Solare Forum in Rome. Analysts say they expect the Italian authorities to issue more permits for PV projects, potentially pushing annual installations to 4 GW in 2023 and 8 GW in 2024.

The Romanian Ministry of Energy has started seeking expressions of interest for its first renewables auction, likely to be held the end of June. Developers have until Dec. 30 to express interest.

China’s Trina Solar has developed an upgraded version of its Vertex S All Black PV module, with about 30 W of additional output. It is offering the new product on the Australian market.

Germany concluded its latest renewables tender with a final average price of €0.0580 ($0.06)/kWh, which is slightly higher than the €0.0510 level from the last such exercise. Bids ranged from €0.0520/kWh to €0.0590/kWh.

SEI Logistics has developed a portable, folding solar panel kit with batteries. The system is designed to work in harsh, remote environments.

Singapore’s Sembcorp plans to install several solar plants near 1.4 GW of coal power capacity that developers are now building in Bangladesh.

The Australian state of Queensland’s push to source 70% of its energy supplies from renewables by 2032 has received a boost with the completion of the 162 MW Columboola Solar Farm.

Iranian researchers have looked at how ultrasonic thermoelectric generators could be used to lower the operating temperature of solar modules. Their new system can generate cold steam via ultrasonic piezoelectrics in a simple batch system.

Analysts have studied lab-to-market pathways for clean energy technologies, including First Solar’s cadmium-telluride thin-film solar modules.

Danish researchers have built a selenium solar cell with the highest open-circuit voltage ever reported. They said that with further improvements in the optoelectronic quality of selenium, the device could reach an efficiency of up to 8%.

Suomen Energiavarasto Oy has secured €26.3 million ($27.5 million) from the Finnish government to build an underground pumped hydro project at a former zinc and copper mine.

Researchers in the Netherlands have designed a water-splitting system with an electrochemical cell and a 25%-efficient tandem perovskite-silicon solar cell. It can reportedly achieve a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency rating of more than 21%.

Linyang Energy has revealed plans to build a new solar factory in Jiangsu province, while Daqo has said it will build a new silicon production base in Inner Mongolia.

Canadian researchers have developed a new model to improve the performance of building-integrated PV (BIPV) shades in buildings. They considered solar electricity, heat transferred through windows, and interior daylighting quality.

A UK research group has proposed the combination of solar-powered heat pumps and thermal storage based on phase-change materials for residential applications. They said such a system could facilitate cost savings of up to 39%.

Enphase CEO Badri Kothandaraman has said that the company will build four to six new manufacturing lines in the United States.

REC says it has dropped its plans to set up a factory in France due to “various market changes.” It wanted to invest €680 million ($716 million) to produce heterojunction solar modules in the town of Hambach.

The International Energy Agency says that it expects the use of renewables to support global hydrogen production to surge over the next five years. The Netherlands and Denmark, meanwhile, have revealed plans to expand electrolysis capacity.

Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL) researchers have developed a new framework to compensate energy storage as a dual-use asset.

The Australian PV Institute (APVI) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have launched a free version of SunSPOT, a tool for tailored guidance on ideal solar and battery setups.

Scientists at the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (DIFFER) have set up a database of 31,618 molecules that could potentially be used in future redox flow batteries. They used artificial intelligence and supercomputers to identify the properties of the molecules.

Panasonic claims that its new vehicle-to-home system can increase the self-consumption rate of residential solar and storage capacity to 90%.