Every year, the SNEC PV Power Expo marks a turning point in the direction of solar market trends, and 2021 was no exception. Corrine Lin, chief analyst at PV InfoLink, was at the show to soak up the latest trends at one of the first big events to go ahead since early 2020.

A gigafactory, as the name indicates, is a facility that aims to produce Li-ion cells at a gigawatt-hours scale of total capacity, so they can then be used in electric vehicles or stationary storage applications. The global production capacity of Li-ion cells is expected to reach 740 GWh by the end of 2021 – almost a threefold increase from 2017 – and Europe will account for 8% of the total. João Coelho, an analyst at Delta-EE, looks at how Europe plans to catch up.

PV markets in Southeast Asia have picked up over the past two years, driven by the astounding growth of Vietnam. Regional policies, combined with growing demand for renewable power in the manufacturing industry, will result in 27 GW of new PV installations across the region over the next five years, writes IHS Markit analyst Dharmendra Kumar. PV installations in these countries are driven by attractive feed-in tariffs, net energy metering, tariff-based auction mechanisms, and other incentives.

The Middle East, and the Gulf in particular, has been home to record low solar tariffs in recent years. Major projects are being awarded via tenders, with prices gradually closing in on a remarkable 1 USDct/kWh. Of course, this is no coincidence due to the region’s favorable solar conditions: availability of cheap and sunny desert land, low labor costs, cheap project financing, supportive tax regimes, large projects benefitting from economies of scale, well designed tender structures, and decreasing PV component prices.

The speed of all transitions is inherently underestimated, and solar PV is no exception. The EU has grossly underestimated its coming of age, as its forecasts for 2020 were off by 67% for the Netherlands and 74% for Germany, writes Rolf Heynen, CEO of Dutch New Energy Research.

The head of the nation’s Smart Energy Council told an event organized by the Global Solar Council, that landmark could be achieved even amid Covid-19 restrictions.

The investment has been planned as part of the nation’s recovery and resilience plan to access EU funds for its post-Covid economic stimulus package. The spending plans of Portugal and Greece have also been approved by the European Commission in the last 48 hours.

Energy efficiency, electrification of heating and transport, and the provision of clean cooking facilities are all going in the wrong direction as the Covid crisis deprived millions in sub-Saharan Africa of electricity use, according to a report by the IEA, IRENA, WHO, World Bank and UN Statistics Division.

The trade show will be held from October 5-7 under the auspices of the Covid-delayed global trade fair.

The 15th edition of the world’s biggest solar exhibition got up and running in Shanghai today and we have exclusive images from the event.

The decision of the Italian energy firm to acquire a 2.8 GW-plus solar pipeline in Spain and France has come on the same day it was announced Eni would assume 1 GW of solar capacity in Spain from another business. The value of neither deal, nor the form of finance involved, has been revealed.

Independent asset manager Azora is selling the renewable energy portfolio, which includes five large solar PV parks totaling 1 GW in advanced stages of development, located in Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Catalonia, Galicia, and La Rioja, to Eni.

EnergyTag is an independent, non-profit, industry-led initiative that aims to accelerate the shift to carbon-free energy by defining and building a market for time-stamped renewable energy certificates. Already, corporate giants like Google and Amazon are onboard via their participation in demonstration projects in Europe and the U.S. As part of the UP Initiative’s Q3 theme on sustainable electricity supply, founder Toby Ferenczi spoke to pv magazine about the idea behind EnergyTag and how he aims to revamp the electricity market.

Two projects with a total generation capacity of 4 MW will be the first of a planned 12 that are set to bring 35 MW of solar to the grid of the Southern African nation by the end of next year.

Made up of distributed residential energy storage, these “plants” stabilize the grid and often end the need for new fossil generation. Tesla customers in California are the latest to join the movement.

The PV mounting system was developed by Germany-based Goldbeck and will initially be available in the Netherlands from 2022. The company will test the new technology in a 45 MW PV project.

U.S.-based Hyzon Motors has developed a new onboard hydrogen storage system technology capable of reducing the weight and manufacturing cost of commercial vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Meanwhile, India’s largest oil provider has announced its first green hydrogen project and the Dutch government has awarded a subsidy contract to an offshore green hydrogen demonstrator.

PH Renewables, Inc. (PHRI), a subsidiary of Global Business Power Corporation (GBP), which is itself part of the Philippines power utility Manila Electric Company (Meralco), has begun construction on a 115 MW solar park in Rizal, Luzon.

The 120 MW PV facility was grid-connected in late 2020 is located at an industrial park in China’s Shandong province. Sungrow supplied its string inverters for the project.

Power Capital Renewable Power has acquired a controlling stake in an extensive solar portfolio under development by Terra Solar.

From pv magazine India. Hitachi ABB Power Grids in India today announced it has successfully commissioned one of India’s longest ultra-high voltage direct current (UHVDC) transmission links for Power Grid Corporation of India Limited.  The ±800 kV, 6GW link can meet the electricity needs of more than 80 million people. It stretches 1,800-kilometers to connect […]

NREL researchers have developed interoperable SCADA protocols for PV inverters. Two new sets of codes were conceived to enable legacy inverters, which are inverters that are not capable of providing some or all of the grid support functions to participate in advanced distribution management.

French organic PV specialist Armor, and a Dutch designer specialized in integrating PV in furniture, windows and other objects, have provided the module technology for the Netherlands’ pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.

Two Italian experts on heat pumps and PV systems recently spoke to pv magazine about economies of scale, the European market, and the maturity of heating tech. The Eurac researchers said currently available heat pumps can run at -20 C and efficiently provide hot water up to 65 C.

The system can be expanded to a capacity of up to 25 kW. Its creator – U.S.-based start-up EcoFlow – has already collected almost €4 million on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform for its portable power supply solution.

Perovskite tandem developer Oxford PV has completed the fit out of its 100 MW tandem cell line in Brandenburg, Germany – although the company awaits for the delivery of one perovskite deposition tool, which would complete the high efficiency cell process. Oxford PV, which in December 2020 hit a new world record cell efficiency of 29.52%, hopes to begin commercial production in early 2022.

According to the China Nonferrous Metals Association, polysilicon prices declined by around 1.4% last week. In other news, Gaoce announced another 20 GW PV wafer factory and Hareon Solar filed for bankruptcy.

With this new factory, the annual production capacity of the Chinese PV inverter maker has reached 23 GW.

NASA plans to place a solar array on a tall mast to avoid lunar shading and capture uninterrupted light. It will hang a pair of PV cell blankets from a horizontal cross arm supported by the mast, anchored to a deployable tripod base.

The manufacturer plans to start production of the performance-enhanced solar modules in August. The first customers should then receive the products in October.

Australia’s first lithium-ion battery manufacturer, Energy Renaissance, has received a grant to develop its pilot manufacturing facility in the Hunter region.

Analyst BloombergNEF has gazed into its crystal ball and predicted three routes to a net zero world. The ‘green’ scenario fleshed out in its latest New Energy Outlook is bound to appeal far more to the solar industry than the alternative, nuclear or fossil-fuel-powered outcomes.

Western Australian company Australian Vanadium Limited has been awarded $3.69 million in federal government funding to fast-track manufacturing of large-scale vanadium redox flow battery systems that can be used to support rooftop solar PV or in off-grid settings such as mining, agriculture and remote communities.

A proposed 500 MW long-duration energy storage project in San Diego County has started a multi-year process to win federal and state approval. If built, it won’t enter into service before 2030.

The battery will be provided by Canadian vanadium mining company Largo Resources. It will come online in the third quarter of next year.