2022

The authorities in China’s Guangdong province have released a 2022-25 plan that foresees the retail price for hydrogen dropping to less than CNY 30/kg ($4.42/kg). Germany and Canada, meanwhile, are set to strengthen their collaboration on hydrogen, and Ford has revealed plans to team up with Southern California Gas for a hydrogen fuel cell electric truck that will be on the road by 2025.

Meyer Burger has announced that it has concluded a binding supply agreement with Norwegian Crystals for silicon wafers to use in heterojunction cell manufacturing. Hydro facilities primarily power the production of the wafers and their precursor materials in Norway. Combined with the shorter distance they’ll have to travel, this adds up to a low carbon footprint.

Scientists in China demonstrated a process to “heal” defects in a perovskite film by using an ammonia treatment after the film is formed through a solvent process. Small solar cells made using these films achieved maximum efficiency of 23.21%, while a mini-module with a 14-square-centimeter active surface area reached 20.61%.

ROTH Capital Partners reports 3 GW have been seized under enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.

France’s Total Eren continues to advance its green hydrogen ambitions in Australia, teaming with the Northern Territory government to develop a massive renewable hydrogen production facility powered by more than 2 GW of PV.

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. 

BlackRock has acquired Australian battery storage developer Akaysha Energy and its portfolio of nine projects.

Colbún has submitted an environmental assessment for a 422 MW solar-plus-storage project it plans to build in Chile. The plans include a five-hour, 240 MW battery system, which would be among the largest energy storage installations in the country.

Enphase Energy’s ClipperCreek unit is set to deploy more EV charging stations in the United States, and Siemens and Mahle have agreed to work on the standardization of wireless EV charging. Mercedes-Benz has expanded its battery supply partnership with CATL, while Tesla has announced that its gigafactory in Shanghai has produced its 1 millionth electric vehicle.

LevelTen Energy, a renewables transaction infrastructure company, has launched a new platform to simplify and accelerate power purchase agreement market analysis. The new platform, MarketPulse, provides 24/7 access to PPA price data, renewable energy project data, and analytics.