2021

EDF is planning to build a 240 MW floating PV project at Laos’ largest hydropower dam. French engineering company Innosea has joined the ambitious project as a provider of support for wave and anchoring studies.

The Indian authorities have announced plans to provide more funding to help more manufacturers under its production-linked incentives scheme, which is designed to support gigawatt-scale manufacturing of high-efficiency solar modules.

The procurement exercise’s final average price is 3% lower than that of the previous tender of the same kind. Around 636 MW of PV capacity was allocated by the French authorities.

Next year will set new records for the U.S. solar market, with 30.4 GW of installations expected. The utility-scale PV pipeline in 2022 is nearly 50% greater than 2021 and 2023, due to the combined effects of pandemic-related supply chain impacts, the solar Investment Tax Credit schedule, and other module procurement challenges. Over the next two years, solar installations will be concentrated in Texas, California, Ohio, Indiana, and Nevada, with large portions of the pipeline being developed by a few key players in each state. IHS Markit’s Eric Wright takes a closer look.

As of October 22, 2021, the overall solar stock market posted strong performance, with the Invesco Solar ETF leading the pack.

Australian miner IGO is building upon its renewable energy options at its Nova nickel operation after signing an agreement with Perth-based energy storage company VSUN Energy to test a hybrid standalone power system backed by a vanadium redox flow battery.

The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory says in a new report that costs for all types of PV systems continue to fall, although it notes that balance-of-systems costs have increased or remained flat across sectors this year.

Scientists in Japan and Europe investigated the long-term stability of perovskite solar cells utilizing layers of mesoporous carbon, building on previous work demonstrating the strong potential of this approach. This latest work demonstrates a light-soaking effect, which allowed them to fabricate cells that retained 92% of their initial performance after 3,000 hours in damp heat conditions – which the researchers say is equivalent to 20 years in the field.

Developer Solar Philippines is preparing to issue up to 2.7 billion shares, for an estimated $0.02 per share, in the project company which will develop its 500 MW-plus Peñaranda project on Luzon.

A U.K. research group is developing an anti-soiling solution produced via a chemical process compatible with glass manufacturing. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council is providing $1.6 million of funding for the project.