2021

The US battery manufacturer entered the stationary storage business with a new product for residential customers. The lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery is compatible with new or existing PV systems.

France has announced a new 10-measure plan to facilitate solar deployment, featuring new and existing provisions. It is designed to support the installation of more than 3 GW per year throughout the country by the end of 2025.

The Spanish company recorded more than half of its year-to-date revenue in the last quarter alone – and secured a 700 MW solar project capacity order in the U.S. in September – but still shed €100,000 in the last three-month window as its nine-month net losses hit €20 million.

Proposed by Egyptian scientists, the proposed GIS technique considers a pumped-hydro project’s head and elevation difference, the penstock-length distance from the base plant, the site’s slopes and slope of the ground surface, the distance to the national grid and road networks, and the soil suitability. It also takes into account constraints such as land use and restrictions.

The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court, in Germany, has ruled that Longi Solar and REC have to pay a fine because they have not fully complied with the court order to recall their solar modules affected by the patent dispute in Germany.

Scientists in the United States developed what they describe as a ‘scotch-tape like’ solution, which can absorb potential lead leakage from perovskite solar cells, preventing the toxic material from entering the environment. The tape, according to the scientists, can easily be integrated with existing encapsulation strategies, and was shown to absorb 99.9% of lead leaked from cells from that were severely damaged.

The Euro trade body has promised to monitor the developing solar jobs market annually from now on, and pointed to Poland’s position at the top of the tree of EU member states for PV jobs last year as evidence the technology can still benefit from legislative backing.

High polysilicon prices helped South Korean supplier OCI to achieve strong results in the third quarter. Tight supply and demand conditions will likely continue until the first half of 2022, the company said.

Developed by U.S. scientists, the cell is claimed to achieve an equivalent bifacial efficiency of more than 20% with an open-circuit voltage of more than 2 V. The choice of the bifacial architecture is intended at increasing the device’s power yield in order to offset the high costs for producing the CdSeTe sub-cell.

Brazilian consultancy Greener reports that monocrystalline PERC modules are currently being sold at an average price of $0.24/W in the Brazilian PV market, but prices may keep rising, possibly into 2022.