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Weekend Read: Shingle all the way

While shingled cells have been around for a while, Tongwei’s adoption of the technology is notable as it is a manufacturer with considerable scale. If shingling can overcome some hurdles, it could prove a welcome solution as unshaded sites for PV become elusive in mature solar markets.
Energy Storage

The Hydrogen Stream: Zimbabwe to develop first utility-scale plant

HDF and ZETDC have signed Zimbabwe’s first utility-scale green hydrogen power plant, with 178 GWh of expected annual electricity production. Rystad Energy, meanwhile, says Africa's total electrolyzer pipeline has hit 114 GW.
Installations

South Africa launches tender for floating, ground-mounted PV

The South African government is looking for independent power producers to build and operate floating or ground-mounted PV projects at selected government waterworks infrastructure or damns. The projects should be operational for 20 years.
Announcements

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The power behind Pakistan’s “under the radar” gigawatt-scale market

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Transparent advantage – Why transparent backsheet bifacial modules can beat out the cumbersome competition

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New tracker design: Multiple motors to tackle multiple challenges

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Installations

Temperature estimates for floating PV modules

Scientists from the United States and Brazil have developed four different ways to estimate the temperature of floating PV modules. They validated the models with temperature measurements from a floating solar plant in Brazil.
Installations

Enel starts building 170 MW of agrivoltaics in Italy

Enel Green Power says it has started working on the largest agrivoltaics plant in Italy. It will feature bifacial PV modules mounted on trackers. Olive trees will grow around the solar panel rows.
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Installations

German manufacturer achieves 80% overall efficiency with new PVT solar module

Sunmaxx says Fraunhofer ISE has confirmed the 80% efficiency of its new photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) module. It consists of 108 PERC half-cells in M10 format, with 400 W of electrical output and 1,200 W of thermal output.
Energy Storage

New propane heat pump for district heating

Swedish manufacturer Qvantum has developed a 6 kW heat pump for apartments connected to district heating systems. It uses propane (R290) as the refrigerant.
Installations

Germany added 1.62 GW of PV in January-February period

Germany's grid authority has reported that the country added 874 MW of solar in January and 746 MW in February.

Press Releases

SolarEdge wins ‘Energy Transformation Leader 2023’ award

SolarEdge Technologies - a global leader in smart energy technologies - has been awarded the title of Energy Transformation Leader 2023 for its innovative SolarEdge Home solution, a complete energy ecosystem that allows residential customers to take control of their energy consumption. The award gala took place on 16 March in Warsaw during the event 'Polish Climate Congress 2023'.

IBC SOLAR SA joining forces with SolarMD at the Solar Show Africa 2023

IBC SOLAR, a leading full-service provider of SOLAR energy solutions, is pleased to announce they will be showcasing in collaboration with South Africa’s leading battery manufacturer SolarMD at The Solar Show Africa 2023. The event is scheduled to take place on the 25 - 26 April at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg.

AlphaESS Unveils Safe and Reliable Energy Storage Solutions at K.EY Exhibition in Italy

AlphaESS, a world-leading energy storage solution and service provider, takes the spotlight at K. EY - The Energy Transition Expo in Italy with its latest residential and commercial products, driving the transition towards a cleaner and greener future.

GoodWe appoints Thomas Haering as President of EMEA Region

GoodWe has appointed Thomas Haering as its new President of EMEA Region. With this appointment, the company strengthens its position and commitment to the region that encompasses Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Opinion & Analysis

Featured

Assessing the area intensity of PV

Solar is wrongly perceived by some people to be an area-intensive energy generation technology requiring much more space than conventional fossil-fuel power plants.

Get what you pay for

Clean Energy Associates (CEA) has calculated the price premium that solar developers will swallow in return for the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) savings offered by the latest generation of high-efficiency PV panels.

Saudi Arabia’s solar market

Saudi Arabia aims to add 10 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2027, with solar to account for the lion’s share. The Middle East Solar Industry Association (MESIA) describes the main market drivers that could make this target achievable.

Hungarian solar is on the rise but much needs to be resolved

PV deployment is gathering pace in the EU member state but grid capacity shortfalls and unpredictable shifts in government policy need to be addressed if the nation is to harness its full solar – and European energy security – potential.

When will the world be fossil free?

Despite the ever-growing number of nations committing to attaining a net-zero economy, there appears little prospect yet of a future free of fossil fuels, as Roger Lewis, an environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) expert at Downing LLP explains.

Optimizing off-grid PV systems for different design criteria

A new report by IEA PVPS Task 18 provides a blueprint guide on how to conduct feasibility studies for off-grid and edge-of-grid power systems. The optimal system size and specifications vary depending on the client’s priorities. The desired project outcomes can be identified using pure financial analysis (NPV, IRR) or additionally taking environmental performance into account.

Covid-19

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.

Irena gives latest update on stark chances of electricity access for all by 2030

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.

EU Chips Act proposed to address semiconductor shortages

The European Commission wants to introduce legislation to back semiconductor research and to address the immediate problem of supply chain bottlenecks by drumming up more than €43 billion, with member states and the private sector expected to contribute.

Module and shipping cost inflation could cost the world 50 GW of solar next year

The input costs of the two biggest contributors to solar plant development expense have gone through the roof since the world began to come out of Covid-19 lockdowns, to leave project developers with some difficult choices.

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.

Gensol Engineering acquires Scorpius Trackers

Gensol Engineering has acquired Indian solar tracking specialist Scorpius Trackers for $16.42 million.

FERC says 1,700 GW of US renewables still awaiting interconnection

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) says that just 86 GW of power projects based on fossil fuels are awaiting interconnection, while 1,700 GW of solar, wind, storage remain delayed.

Qcells announces new US solar encapsulant factory

Hanwha Advanced Materials Georgia has agreed to supply EVA encapsulant film to Qcells, in addition to supporting Qcells’ plans to develop a fully integrated solar supply chain in the United States.

Meyer Burger aiming for EU funding to hit gigawatt scale

Swiss PV manufacturer Meyer Burger hit its 321 MW production volume target last year, and its expansion into the gigawatt scale is already underway, as it recently completed two additional purchase agreements with major customers. It has also applied for hundreds of millions of funding support from the EU Innovation Fund, with a final decision to be made in the summer.

China installed 20.37 GW of PV in January-February period

China reached a cumulative installed PV capacity of 314 GW by the end of February, according to new figures from the National Energy Administration (NEA).

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.

Solar curtailment vs. storage

Swiss researchers have looked at whether storage could be cheaper than curtailment in medium-voltage distribution networks with significant amounts of PV capacity. They considered storage costs, operational costs, grid constraints, electricity costs, PV generation models, and loads.

New tool to estimate efficiency, savings of ground-source heat pumps

Researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a free, web-based application that calculates the savings and energy efficiency of residential ground-source heat pumps compared to gas heating.

Cape Verde kicks off tender for 3.4 MW of solar

The government of Cape Verde is seeking developers to build four solar plants across four islands in the archipelagic nation.

New global solar capacity additions hit 191 GW in 2022, says IRENA

Global renewable capacity increased by 295 GW last year, bringing the world to a cumulative installed capacity of 3,372 GW, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Solar-powered cooling solution for off-grid applications

Phaesun and Solar Cooling Engineering have developed a PV-powered cold room for small-scale farmers in Africa. The solution, which has been installed at a farm in Kenya, includes a 2.8 kW solar array and vapor compression heat pumps.

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.

Novel oxygen-ion battery may offer longer lifespan, claims TU Wien

Austrian scientists have created a lab-scale, solid-state, oxygen ion battery based on mixed ionic electronic conducting (MIEC), which is a special class of non-flammable electroceramic materials. The battery has around 30% of the energy density of lithium-ion batteries but can purportedly achieve a longer lifespan.

SDN unveils 595 W solar module with 21.28% efficiency

South Korea’s SDN has developed new bifacial solar modules based on M10 wafers. It claims the new panels are the largest to be produced in South Korea.

New Zealand moves forward with 8.5 TWh pumped hydro project

The New Zealand government will investigate the viability of establishing a pumped hydroelectric facility on the South Island. The project could provide up to 8.5 TWh of annual generation and storage capacity to support the nation’s transition to 100% renewable electricity generation.

Bureau Veritas reports strong interest in hydrogen certification

Bureau Veritas tells pv magazine that there is a great deal of interest in hydrogen certification schemes in Europe, Australia, the United States, and the Middle East.

US researchers evaluate viability of ‘direct’ green hydrogen fuel production

Rather than using solar or wind to power electrolysis, researchers are testing the competitiveness of photoelectrochemical cells to produce emissions-free hydrogen fuels.

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.

US residential solar quotes hit average of $2.85 per watt

EnergySage says Qcells is now as the most quoted solar panel maker in the United States.

Dutch BIPV specialist unveils white facade solar panels

Solarix, a building-integrated PV (BIPV) manufacturer in the Netherlands, has developed a white variant of its facade solar panels. It says demand for white BIPV products is rising across Europe, especially among architects.

French startup deploys 300 kW offshore solar pilot in Mediterranean

SolarinBlue has deployed the first units of an offshore PV pilot plant in the Mediterranean Sea, 1.5 km off the port of Sète, France.

Scientists achieve 24.83% efficiency with 2D/3D heterojunction perovskite PV cell

Researchers in China have built a perovskite solar cell with a 2D/3D heterojunction architecture. The device has an open-circuit voltage of 1.19 V, a short-circuit current of 25.21 mA cm−2, and a fill factor of 82.61%.

SEG Solar intends to set up 2 GW of US solar panel production

SEG Solar says it will invest $60 million in a new US factory. It currently produces panels at factories in Vietnam and Indonesia.

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.

Residential heat pump subsidies across Europe

The European Heat Pump Association has compiled an up-to-date overview of subsidies for residential heat pumps in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Switzerland.

IndianOil targets 200 GW of renewable energy by 2050

State-owned IndianOil says it plans to have around 2 million metric tons of green hydrogen capacity in its portfolio by 2050.

Australian developer plans gigawatt-scale solar, battery project

Skylab, a solar tracking distributor and renewable energy project developer, has unveiled ambitious plans to build about 1 GW of solar and battery energy storage facility in the Australian state of Queensland.

The Hydrogen Stream: Lhyfe, Centrica to develop offshore green hydrogen

Lhyfe has revealed plans to jointly develop offshore renewable green hydrogen with Centrica in the United Kingdom. Separately, the Paris-listed hydrogen producer said it has also acquired a stake in Finland’s Flexens.

Samsung, Oxford launch heat pump pilot project at subsidized prices

Samsung and the city of Oxford in the UK have announced the trial of a neighborhood heat pump scheme in Rose Hill, Oxford. The project aims to connect communities to local installers, helping to remove key barriers to heat pump uptake, including cost. Up to 150 Samsung air-source heat pumps will be installed at a reduced price of GBP 2,600 ($3,185) each.

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