Extreme volatility and high prices recorded on energy markets, coupled with inflation, and soaring interest rates are impacting long term power purchase agreements. Still there is a way to the success and signing of contracts.

At the end of 2021, the total capacity of the solar power plants throughout the world was estimated to be 940 GW. According to the forecasts of solar association SolarPower Europe, the total capacity could reach 2 TW by 2025. With the rapidly growing popularity of solar power plants, experts predict that the next breakthrough in this sector will be smart batteries. In the future, solar power plants will not be able to operate without them.

Almost half a billion people are served by the off-grid solar industry, and a growing number of these via Pay-as-you-go (PAYGo) asset financing. For many consumers, not only is the solar product their first access to modern energy but it may also be their first access to finance. The impact of this can be huge – the 60 Decibels Energy Benchmark reveals that 92% of consumers report an improvement in quality of life after purchasing their off-grid solar (OGS) product. On the other hand, consumers of OGS are exposed to product, service, and financial risk that companies must mitigate and balance with sustainable growth objectives. 

The Covid-19 pandemic and resulting economic fallout have had a variety of impacts on the clean energy transition, with some sectors being more affected than others. Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned of slowed progress towards sustainable energy goals due to Covid-19 and reversed progress in many areas crucial in reaching net zero, such as energy efficiency, clean cooking, or access to electricity. There is one sector, however, that has shown remarkable resilience since the beginning of the pandemic and has been able to maintain, and even accelerate, its rapid growth since 2020: green energy infrastructure.

The world’s energy sector is concentrated in solar, wind, electricity transmission/distribution and hydroelectric power. For example, investment in solar power plants alone is higher than investment in natural gas, coal-fired and nuclear power plants combined. This is encouraging, but another fact is worrying: China’s exports of solar modules to Europe in the first four months of 2022 were 2.5 times higher compared to 2021. In April alone, nearly 8 GW of solar modules worth more than €2 billion were imported from China into Europe.

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.

It should come as no surprise that clean energy spending is a big chunk of Warsaw’s four-year EU grant and loans package, given that the nation’s grid-connected solar capacity rose from 3.99 GW at the end of 2020 to 6.3 GW four months ago, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.

The clean power numbers published annually by the International Renewable Energy Agency provide a snapshot of the global solar market and, this year, a lot of figures were unchanged from the previous dataset, especially in the off-grid segment.

Covid-19 has left Shunfeng International’s accountants unable to publish its official 2021 numbers on time, but its estimated figures announced a net current liability of almost $155 million and a “capital deficiency” of near $140 million.

Polysilicon maker Xinte is forging ahead with a huge expansion strategy just as solar developers at the opposite end of the industry continue to bleed cash.

Puerto Rico’s latest procurement exercise is the second round of a tender scheme designed to allocate 3.75 GW of renewablesd capacity and 1.5 GW of storage.

Germany’s newly installed PV capacity hit 4.8 GW in the first eight months of this year, from just 3.6 GW in the same period of 2021.

S4 Energy and ABB recently installed a hybrid battery-flywheel storage facility in the Netherlands. The project features a 10 MW battery system and a 3 MW flywheel system and can reportedly offer a levelized cost of storage ranging between €0.020 ($0.020)/kWh and €0.12/kWh.

RWE has agreed to buy Con Edison’s renewables business for $6.8 billion. The combined portfolio almost doubles RWE’s operating assets in the United States to 7.2 GW, making it the fourth-largest renewables company and the second-largest US solar operator.

Multiple factors can affect the lifespans of residential battery energy storage systems.

New South Wales has launched the first in a series of rolling tenders, as part of the Australian state’s plans to develop 12 GW of renewables and 2 GW of storage by 2030.

CrossBoundary EnergyAccess Nigeria has committed to invest $60 million in minigrid projects developed by Engie, in the largest such transaction in Africa. The projects will connect more than 150,000 people to electricity for the first time.

Adani Green’s newest project includes 600 MW of solar and 150 MW of wind capacity in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It will sell the electricity to Solar Energy Corp. of India under a 25-year power purchase agreement at a rate of INR 2.69 ($0.012)/kWh.

Multiple factors can affect the productive lifespan of a residential solar inverter. We take a look at solar inverters in the second part of our ongoing series.

DualSun’s new Flash 425 Shingle all-black modules have 425 W of nominal power and a power conversion efficiency of 20.4%.

Russian researchers have developed a heterojunction device based on a new wide-band black material called “black silicide.” The cell has averaged reflection (AVR) of 15% in the spectral range of 200 nanometers to 1,800 nm and purportedly can reach an efficiency of 10%.

Premier Energies has become India’s first solar manufacturer to develop a bifacial monocrystalline silicon PERC solar cell based on the 182 mm format. The cell has an efficiency rating of up to 23.2%.

An international research group has examined the structural barriers to addressing the solar e-waste problem in the Global South. They argue that the focus should be on repairing devices, rather than recycling them.

Researchers in Egypt have developed a synthesis method that uses the high microwave absorbance of silicon carbide content in rice straw ash and takes just 60 seconds to produce sodium iron phosphates-carbon nanocomposites (NaFePO4-C), which can be used as sodium ion battery cathodes and as symmetric supercapacitors.

US-based solar controller producer Morningstar has launched a new line of off-grid inverters, featuring six models ranging from 150 W to 2,500 W. Production and deliveries are scheduled to start this year.

Soren and Envie 2E Aquitaine have inaugurated a new solar module recycling facility in Saint-Loubès, France.

Multiple factors affect the productive lifespan of a residential solar panel. In the first part of this series, we look at the solar panels themselves.

India’s Adani Solar will expand its PV cell and module manufacturing capacity to 10 GW per year by 2025, with backward integration up to the polysilicon stage.

India-based Emmvee has unveiled its Sapphire line of glass-to-glass bifacial modules, with power outputs ranging from 530 W to 545 W. The modules are built with 144 mono PERC half cells and 10 busbars.

Toshiba has revealed that it has improved the power conversion efficiency of a transparent cuprous oxide solar cell to 9.5%, from the 8.4% mark it reached in December 2021. It enlarged the cell and suppressed carrier recombination at the edge of the cuprous oxide (Cu2O) generation layer, which usually causes generation efficiency degradation.

Plastic Omnium has secured French state funding support to build Europe’s largest hydrogen vessel factory, while Vancouver-based First Hydrogen said it is considering investments in Europe’s commercial hydrogen vehicle sector.

Saft, a unit of TotalEnergies, has launched a new LFP battery storage system that is optimized for time-shifting applications.

Dalian Rongke Power has connected a 100 MW redox flow battery storage system to the grid in Dalian, China. It will start operating in mid-October and will eventually be scaled up to 200 MW. The vanadium redox flow battery technology was developed by a division of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Energy Dome has entered into a partnership with Ørsted to run a feasibility study on the deployment of at least one 20 MW/200 MWh energy storage facility featuring its carbon dioxide (CO2) battery technology. The first facility will have a 10-hour storage capacity and construction could begin in the second half of 2024.

Verdagy has reported a levelized cost of green hydrogen (LCOH) below $3.00/kg for its anion exchange membrane (AEM). The California-based company said it can now launch commercial operations.