Falling electrolyzer costs driven by economies of scale, increased automation of production and the modularity of such systems will bring green hydrogen to a competitive cost with its fossil-fuel powered variants in a dozen markets by 2030, according to WoodMac.

As 2021 ends, we enter a period of reflection and preparation. The ongoing pandemic has brought supply chain disruption, while the increasingly severe effects of the climate crisis loom over us. This winter, Europeans are struggling through unprecedented energy costs, driven by extremely high global gas prices. A year of difficulties has shown that Europe, more than ever, must accelerate the deployment of renewables to provide our economy with reliable, low-cost, and clean energy.

The Paris-based body expects the world will have installed almost 160 GW of solar this year, a record number, but still not enough to keep the prospect of a net zero global economy by mid century in sight.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) took place between October 31 and November 12 in Glasgow, Scotland, and ended with the adoption of the Glasgow Climate Pact by bringing 200 countries closer to keeping global temperature rise under 1.5°C by 2100.

There’s a famous saying: “Never let a crisis go to waste.” The current energy crisis has had a terrible impact on many consumers, but it has also given the energy sector a golden opportunity to get in shape for the energy transition. Jon Slowe, the director of Delta-EE, examines the impacts and opportunities of the energy crisis currently playing out in Europe and what it could mean for the renewables sector.

Advances in solar power and other clean energy technologies have failed to keep up with demand for electricity as economies rebound from the Covid crisis and China and India’s fossil fuel appetite will ensure the world stays well short of what is needed for a net zero 2050 for at least the next three years.

A news article published on Friday stated 13 cases had been confirmed and a senior physician said the working hypothesis was that at least half of the 120 people who attended the event had been infected. pv magazine has contacted Scatec for an update.

Solar manufacturer Jolywood, which supplied almost 500 MW of its bifacial tunnel oxide passivated contact panels for Oman’s Ibri II facility, has claimed the power plant is the biggest to date to deploy the high-efficiency technology.

The latest edition of a clean power jobs survey produced by IRENA and the International Labour Organization has stressed the important role which will need to be played by the public sector if the energy transition’s employment benefits are to be shared equally.

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.

Through the scheme, the Irish government intends to allocate around 380 MW of solar power. Projects of up to 50 kW will be entitled to participate and installations not exceeding 6 kW in size will be given a maximum rebate of €2,400.

The London-based development institution will offer up a loan and grant to fund the construction of five solar plants at municipal sites across Gaziantep, as part of the lender’s Green City program.

A 100 MW solar field near the port of Mongla is expected to begin commercial operation within days and will take the nation to almost 880 MW of clean power generation capacity.

The Polish energy regulator has allocated 570 MW of PV capacity in a procurement exercise for projects exceeding 1 MW in size and around 300 MW in an auction for projects with capacities of up to 1 MW.

The Saddlebrook Solar + Storage Project will be a 102.5 MW installation, paired with 6.5 MW/52 MWh of Lockheed Martin’s GridStar Flow battery technology. It will be the largest flow battery energy storage facility in Alberta.

The Swedish Electrical Safety Agency has ruled that some SolarEdge optimizers and one string inverter from Growatt do not meet its electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements – halting their sale in the country. SolarEdge expressed surprise at the banning and claims that the complaints filed with the Electrical Safety Agency came from a handful of amateur radio operators.

The US government could lease about 1,400 square miles of public land for solar development, in a move that would effectively double the nation’s installed PV capacity. The Bureau of Land Management has already taken the first step by approving 465 MW of solar and 400 MW of storage in California.

The auction has been significantly oversubscribed and has seen 57 successful projects among 183 submitted. Around 299 GWh of power was contracted and will be provided exclusively by PV projects.

The European Commission has given its seal of approval to a government program which will drive an estimated 264 MW of solar and wind capacity across 47 islands while they await connection to the mainland grid.

In addition, the new CEEAG guidelines allow government and national authorities to hold tenders for specific technology applications, such as floating solar and agrivoltaics.

Sydney-based startup SunDrive has given itself an early Christmas present in the form of the fabrication of its first full-sized panel. This panel marks the most recent milestone on the road to commercialization for SunDrive, which set a new world record for commercial-sized silicon solar cell efficiency in September.

Air Force Research Lab demonstrates key hardware for Arachne flight experiment, which aims to build an operational space-based solar power transmission system.

Ambient Photonics has developed solar cells that can be used by internet-of-things (IoT) and smart home device companies. It is working to secure funds from the U.S. government to build a factory in the United States.

Researchers at the University of Wollongong in Australia have discovered a new form of graphene that will improve anode and cathode materials in lithium-ion batteries, making them cheaper and more efficient. They are collaborating with Sicona, which has agreed to buy the researchers’ intellectual property.

Nexcharge, a joint venture between Indian lead-acid storage specialist Exide Industries and Swiss lithium-ion battery manufacturer Leclanché, has revealed plans to manufacture lithium-ion cells in India. Ketan Chitnis, Nexcharge’s vice president of stationary BU, tells pv magazine that the government’s production-linked incentive scheme is attracting investment.

The record efficiency was achieved by engineering the cell with reduced copper(II) oxide (CuO) and copper (Cu) impurities in the thin-film deposition. It showed an open-circuit voltage of 1.13 V, a short-circuit current of 10.63 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 0.696. 

As Australia stares down a deluge of worn out solar panels, recycling – and indeed upcycling – programs are grinding into gear. In Victoria, a site has been found for Australia’s first facility to recover and reuse solar module materials, while Reclaim PV has extended its manufacturer partner and pickup location lists.

The polysilicon maker has announced it wants to build another factory in in Baotou City, Inner Mongolia. Elsewhere, the National Energy Administration has said new PV installations for the first 11 months of the year totaled 34.83 GW.

The use of phosphorene nanoribbons boosted the cell, putting it on par with traditional silicon cell output levels.

Italian manufacturer Solarday has launched a glass-glass building-integrated monocrystalline PERC panel available in red, green, gold and grey color. Its power conversion efficiency is 17.98% and its temperature coefficient is -0.39% per degree Celsius.

The system consists of 27 storage containers with a capacity of 2.5 MWh each, designed and assembled by TotalEnergies unit Saft.

Swiss battery manufacturer Leclanche and Dutch energy storage specialist S4 Energy have completed work on a 10 MW hybrid energy storage system located in Heerhugowaard, North Holland. The system will serve the frequency containment reserve market as the Dutch grid continues to face serious congestion issues.

Through three different transactions, AES acquired Community Energy Solar, Stem Inc bought AlsoEnergy, and Enphase took over 365 Pronto.

NTPC Limited has selected California-headquartered Bloom Energy’s electrolyzer and hydrogen-powered fuel cell technologies for the nation’s first green hydrogen-based microgrid, which will be powered by a floating solar array.

ESS announced the integration of its long-duration batteries for a microgrid project commissioned by San Diego Gas & Electric to mitigate and increase resilience to wildfires.