2019

With Decree No. 345, the Cuban government aims to encourage consumers to install rooftop PV projects. The new rules will help to facilitate the sale of surplus power within the national electricity system, among other matters.

A recent study shows that PV costs have declined faster than any other energy technology over the past two decades. The researcher behind the study said this would not have been possible without the “butterfly effect,” which is based on the idea that a small change in one part of a complex system can have a large impact elsewhere. The researcher also attributed the the rapidly declining cost of PV to Chinese manufacturing and strong US investor support.

A new survey by the Melbourne-based Clean Energy Council shows that confidence in new clean energy investment has continued to weaken over the past six months. While a majority of Australian industry representatives expect to hire more people over the next 12 months, the biggest challenges to developing new projects remain unchanged, with the grid connection process, technical requirements, and policy uncertainty at the top of their list of concerns.

The government of Goa, now reeling under severe electricity shortages, has decided to extend its solar power purchase agreement with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam by three years, following a complete lack of interest in the Indian state’s recent solar tenders.

A research group in Okinawa, Japan has been able to observe and characterize structural defects in an organic-inorganic perovskite solar cell. Their findings could help to inform future approaches to optimizing and improving perovskite stability.

A new paper published by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory delves into the potential of hybrid power plants combining wind and solar generation. Development of such plants, according to the lab, is driven by the need to increase profitability and consider metrics beyond levelized cost of electricity, taking into account time varying revenues and better managing these renewables inherent variability.

A unit of Dubai-based Amea Power will build the project in Blitta prefecture, in the center of the West African country, with all electricity to be sold to Togo Electric Power Co. (CEET) under a long-term power purchase agreement.

Earlier this month, pv magazine held its first webinar under the UP sustainability initiative, looking at greenwashing versus verifiable sustainability. Initiative partner SMA and Professor Dustin Mulvaney shared their insights in a lively discussion. Many questions were submitted by the webinar participants. What follows are those we did not have time to answer.

A new report by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency reveals some surprises about the use of rare earth minerals in the renewable energy sector.

Baden-based utility Axpo is building a 2 MW facility at the Muttsee reservoir in the canton of Glarus, Switzerland. It expects the plant to maintain high levels of power generation, especially throughout the winter months.