Factories suffering from rationed grid electricity could help drive a boom in on-site solar systems, and recent moves to mandate the retrofitting of PV on existing buildings could also lift the market, as analyst Frank Haugwitz explains.

The urgency to decarbonize the building sector has caught global attention in the lead-up to the COP26 summit, commencing on Oct. 31. Wood Mackenzie’s Ben Hertz-Shargel says that success will require a two-pronged strategy of massively electrifying building heat over the coming decade, while also investing in technologies that can pick up future heating demand if the grid cannot handle it.

Industrial shutdowns and reduced factory production capacity levels indicate the companies producing the raw materials used by solar manufacturers are being afflicted by electricity consumption measures just as other sectors are. It is not clear whether the solar industry will be afforded any favors by Beijing, as analyst Frank Haugwitz explains.

It turns out that you can have too much of a good thing, says Mark Byrne of Australia’s Total Environment Centre. Or rather, it’s possible that there is too much rooftop PV at some times in some places. As a result, a range of critical reforms – including the introduction of export tariffs to pay for upgrades of the electricity distribution network – are necessary to allow for the uninhibited growth of solar in the future, he argues.

With a rising chorus of voices calling for more solar industry recruits to perform the energy transition, Nigeria already has a skilled base of PV engineers and, with a little help filling the few gaps they have in their knowledge, the nation can step into the breach immediately, as Testimony Gabe-Oji, chief technology officer for Abuja-based installer Green Energy Spectrum, explains.

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.

The latest, seven-year investment attracted offers worth more than €100 billion from investors and means the European Union has already generated €54 billion of the €80 billion of bond proceeds it is aiming for this year, as part of its five-year, €800 billion NextGenerationEU support package.

A note issued by Norwegian analyst Rystad has hinted it may be time to consider abandoning the 1.5-degree average global temperature rise ceiling agreed upon in Paris six years ago, because the world will never be able to pump out enough solar panels in time.

An independent third-party has approved the European Commission’s safeguards to ensure the projects in member states financed by €250 billion of green bonds over the next five years, will have genuine emission reduction credentials.

‘More than 90’ suppliers of appliances such as solar lanterns and home solar panels, as well as mini-grid installers, will be offered low-interest credit by an assortment of government-backed and privately-financed entities.

Among the selected developers were EDF, Canadian Solar, Solarpack, Enel and Celsia. The final average price for the PV technology was significantly higher than that of the previous procurement exercise.

The recent increase in the goods and services tax applied to solar cells and modules, from 5% to 12%, coupled with a planned 40% customs duty on panel imports, is set to increase project costs for developers.

Efforts are being made to come up with a less convoluted approach to planning farm-based solar systems, in the only EU member state which explicitly apportioned funds for agrivoltaics in its post-Covid spending plans.

Menlo Electric said the procured modules will be primarily offered to B2C and B2B installers across Central Europe.

Compressed hydrogen ship maker Global Energy Ventures will develop a 2.8 GW green hydrogen export project on the Tiwi Islands, off the coast of the Northern Territory. It says the project will demonstrate the simplicity and efficiency of compressed hydrogen for Asia-Pacific supply chains, and will of course use a fleet of its own hydrogen-powered and hydrogen carrying 430-tonne ships.

Some 90,000 individual solar panels will generate enough electricity to cover around 40% of the electricity used in two buildings for Google.

The 61 MW solar facility is owned by Colombian oil company Ecopetrol.

Elsewhere, Snam and Toyota are pushing for more hydrogen-based mobility in Italy, and Woodside Petroleum wants to establish an export-oriented hydrogen and ammonia production facility in Australia.

Elsewhere, cell maker Aikosolar has announced two major wafer purchase agreements with manufacturers Shuangliang and Shangji, and Zhonghuan Semiconductor has reported solid financials for the third quarter.

A $40 million solar field which will double the generation capacity of the Omsk region is planned to start generating in December as part of the national government’s clean air ambitions.

From pv magazine Australia Lumea, the commercial arm of AustralianMega transmission network operator TransGrid, said commissioning of the $61.9 million Wallgrove Grid Battery has begun after it achieved registration with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) earlier this week. The 50 MW/75 MWh lithium-ion battery has been installed adjacent to Transgrid’s Wallgrove substation in Western […]

From pv magazine USA The gravity-based energy storage tower developed by Energy Vault has reached commercialization, with the company signing an agreement with DG Fuels to supply 1.6 GWh of energy storage. The tower will be charged with solar photovoltaic energy. The dispatched storage will support the creation of renewable hydrogen, biogenic based, synthetic aviation […]

Developed by French start-up EODev, the 100 kVa system is equipped with fuel cells manufactured by Toyota. The generator has a power of 110 kVA and its lifetime is guaranteed for 15,000 hours.

Developed by Honeywell, the flow battery is currently being tested by U.S. utility Duke Energy. The battery can reach a storage capacity of 12 MWh and be used through a modular approach in large scale renewable energy projects.

The 4cm² cell showed a remarkable open-circuit voltage of 754 mV. It was fabricated with a hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) layer, which is said to show lower parasitic absorption and higher external quantum efficiency.

According to a statement released by the Californian manufacturer, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) issued an initial determination finding that Canadian Solar may have violated two U.S. patents covering Solaria’s shingled photovoltaic panels.

As modules change in size and form factor, ripple effects are felt across the entire solar industry, requiring tweaks, modifications, and outright changes to longstanding project development and construction practices.

An investigation into internal controls at the polysilicon maker found the company permitted deals to be signed off solely on paper in certain circumstances and also unearthed no evidence anyone had done their homework before handing over 865 million shares to secure a loan which, GCL says, never materialized in full.

The 1.2 kW solar awning can be retracted automatically in the event of adverse weather conditions. The patented technology, developed by Xponent Power, may enable a wide range of additional applications such as for use by the military, for emergency relief, and residential power.

Jindal India Solar Energy, Shirdi Sai Electricals, Reliance New Energy Solar, and Adani Infrastructure will each have half of their planned 4 GW annual production of polysilicon-to-module output subsidized by public funds.

U.K.-based Gravitricity is planning to deploy its gravity-based energy storage solution at a decommissioned coal mine in Czechia. The project is part of a plan to commence a full-scale, 4-8 MW prototype scheme in disused mines next year.

The move will encourage private sector renewables companies to be part of the national energy industry, a representative of the regulator told a recent webinar which considered how to accelerate clean energy roll-out in Africa.

The 97%-efficient device is said to be the most powerful PV microinverter developed by the company to date and is capable of forming a microgrid during a power outage. The U.S. manufacturer expects to ship the first products in December.

The country added 60MW/106 MWh in the first half of the year. Energy storage continues to grow with the region of Lombardy and Veneto being the two largest contributors.

With green hydrogen needed to produce the ‘e-ammonia’ required for carbon-free vessels, new clean power generation capacity and potential solar power hotspots near international shipping lanes will be crucial.