Recent years have seen an explosion of installed PV capacity across the European Union, fueled by the well-documented rapid reduction in technology costs and favorable subsidy regimes in many jurisdictions. However, one corner of Northern Europe remains relatively untouched by the solar revolution, writes Adam Sharpe of Everoze. The Republic of Ireland currently has the second-lowest amount of installed PV capacity in the European Union, at just 36 MW by the end of 2019.

The solar sector is no stranger to breaking records. Perhaps the most impressive figure to emerge from SolarPower Europe’s new ‘Global Market Outlook’ is that the global solar sector will reach terawatt scale by 2022 – just four years after the 500 GW milestone was reached. Michael Schmela from SolarPower Europe sets out the reasoning behind this and other key findings in the report.

As the Covid-19 pandemic gradually eases, countries around the world have slowly begun to relax lockdown measures. Some countries have also launched varying types of economic stimulus to support the solar sector. In contrast to others, the Chinese market is stable, as the country has had some success in controlling the virus.

This year marks a uniquely critical juncture on the road to universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy. The massive disruption caused by Covid-19 complicates the outlook to 2030, which is the target date for reaching UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7, writes Rohit Khanna, manager of the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program.

Global solar tracker shipments reached new record levels in 2019, exceeding 31 GW, up 55% year on year. Exceptional demand in the United States – as well as multiple gigawatt markets in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Spain and Australia – helped propel the market to new heights, writes Cormac Gilligan, associate director at IHS Markit.

The latest edition of the US Energy Information Administration’s Electric Power Monthly report shows renewables generated more electricity through May 31 than coal and nuclear.

Developer Anumar has secured the signature of Norwegian renewables company Statkraft on a 50 MW power purchase agreement for the project and another 30 MW of generation capacity has been awarded a feed-in premium tariff in a tender. Umweltbank provided a €55 million loan.

pv magazine’s Amjad Khashman has spoken to Chinese solar developer Jinko Power about negotiating the world record low price tariff agreed for electricity generated at the Al Dhafra solar project in Abu Dhabi.

Plus, even stay-at-home orders and plunging commercial energy demand failed to take the sting out of Australia’s solar duck curve and China’s GCL System counts the first-half cost of the public health crisis.

The extraordinary measure of not publishing the results of successful project bids – brought in during the Covid-19 crisis – is set to be lifted from September, when the projects allocated in procurement rounds over the last five months will be made public.

An Australian innovator has designed a secure racking system he says enables super-fast installation of solar fields, which can then be relocated as needed.

Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) is seeking approval to develop 350 MW of solar in the state of Baja California. The arrays will be built on the same site as the 820 MW Cerro Prieto geothermal project. However, it remains unclear whether the PV installations mark the company’s formal entry into the solar business.

Inverter manufacturer Fimer provided its PVS980-58 central inverter solution for the project, which will derive 35% of its energy from solar PV.

Creditors of SolarWorld Industries have approved the sale of a production facility to Meyer Burger. The Swiss tech group plans to manufacture highly efficient solar modules at the plant.

Shanghai Electric has won a contract to build the fifth 900 MW phase of a 5 GW solar park in Dubai. JA Solar also agreed this week to supply 138 MW of PV modules for two projects in Jordan.

Koen Peters has been the executive director of global offgrid solar association GOGLA since 2014. He has more than 20 years of international work experience, with more than 12 years in relation to energy access. He has gathered insights from many different perspectives and organizations, including government, consulting, startup businesses, and international finance organizations.

AES, one of the world’s largest power companies, has made a strategic investment in Sydney-based prefabricated solar system manufacturer 5B.

The country’s latest tech-specific PV tender was oversubscribed, but the final prices are slightly lower than those recorded in the last procurement round.

Australian scientists have identified seven methods to prevent PV losses when overvoltage-induced inverter disconnections occur. The methods include battery storage, reactive power inverters, export limits, distribution static synchronous compensators, the replacement of old conductors in power grids, load reconfiguration, and dynamic voltage restoration.

India’s cumulative renewables capacity will hit 120 GW to 125 GW by December 2022, with solar to account for about 50% of the total, according to a new report by ICRA.

Scientists in the United States have developed a lithography-based process for the fabrication of single-crystal perovskites. Thin films made using this process have been integrated into a range of devices, including solar cells, and have demonstrated better stability performance than their more commonly researched polycrystalline counterparts.

A Pakistani-Chinese research group has demonstrated a new maximum power point tracking method, based on a fuzzy logic algorithm to provide faster results. The converter tech is claimed to have an impact on PV system efficiency and provide isolation between the load and the PV array.

CPS Energy has taken the first step towards bringing those volumes – plus 500 MW of firming capacity – to the Lone Star State in pursuit of the power company’s 50%-renewables-by-2040 goal.

Scientists at Germany’s Karlsruher Institute of Technology are leading an investigation into a new lithium-ion battery anode. The innovation has a perovskite crystalline structure and, according to the researchers, could provide strong all-round performance from simpler, cheaper production methods than those used for other anode materials.

Hydrogène de France and gas grid company Teréga plan to launch a feasibility study for a 1.5 GWh pilot hydrogen storage project in caverns in the southwest of the country.

The ‘safeguard’ duty will be levied on Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai solar cells – whether assembled into modules or not – at 14.9% from today and falling to 14.5% in six months’ time. Malaysian products are exempted as their imports have fallen dramatically since the duty was introduced, in July 2018.

Taiwan-based TrendForce says the nation added only 410 MW of solar capacity to the end of May, towards this year’s 2.2 GW target. The lower-than-expected deployment volume may be further hampered by new restrictions for PV on agricultural land introduced by the Council of Agriculture this month.

Scientists in India have taken a close look at the potential impact of growing volumes of PV waste, and have conducted surveys that suggest a lot more work is needed from manufacturers and policymakers to develop management systems for end-of-life PV products.

Despite strong revenue growth in its domestic market, Quick Mount PV – which was acquired by Netherlands-based Esdec last year – is abandoning its U.S. manufacturing to move overseas.

Researchers in Spain have developed a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm based on just one input parameter – PV module temperature. The algorithm has already shown stability in testing, the scientists claim.

A series of failures triggered thermal runaway and an explosion at Arizona Public Service Electric’s McMicken battery facility, according to two new reports that look at how to prevent similar disasters in the future.

Energy companies Shell and Eneco have secured the tender to build the 759 MW wind power plant. The partners will build a pilot solar park, short-term storage capacity and a green hydrogen plant at the facility, to assess their capabilities of balancing intermittent power.

A consortium will develop the huge project with Danish wind turbine maker Vestas by 2030.

The U.S.-based Mercy Corps has opened a call for expressions of interest in the installation of mini-grids at three refugee camps on the Somali border.

The 182.5 MW/730 MWh Moss Landing energy storage system could eventually be expanded to 1.1 GWh – putting it on track to overshadow Tesla’s massive Hornsdale project in Australia.