Total Eren heralds another 100 MW of Uzbek solar
The central Asian nation went from 4 MW of grid-connected solar to 104 MW in just 12 months and Total Eren’s latest announcement indicates an ambitious national goal of adding 12 GW of renewables this decade may not be so fanciful.
Powering EV charging stations with agrivoltaics
US researchers find that placing agrivoltaic installations along highways to power EV charging stations can reduce both carbon emissions and range anxiety.
Energy output is over 100 times the input needed to manufacture solar panels
According to a third-party study, the projected output over the 40-year warranty period of Maxeon solar panels exceeds the energy demand of manufacturing them by over 100-fold. Plus, more details from the Maxeon 2021 sustainability report.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: JinkoSolar commissions 20 GW n-type ingot fab in Qinghai Province
In other news, DAH Solar announced a 5 GW TOPCon solar module factory in Anhui province and Tongwei further raised the prices of its solar cells.
The Hydrogen Stream: Ignited hydrogen-fueled engine from China
Machinery company Yuchai expects mass production by the end of 2022, targeting tractors and other heavy commercial vehicles in mountainous or plateau areas. Sunfire is installing a 2.6 MW high-temperature electrolyzer at Neste’s renewable products refinery in Rotterdam, with commissioning expected in early 2023. Meanwhile, hydrogen-based projects in the mobility and transportation sectors are taking off in France, Czech Republic, and the UK.
Heterojunction solar cells with lower silver consumption via rotary screen printing
Scientists from the Fraunhofer ISE built a bifacial heterojunction solar cell with a power conversion efficiency of 21.7% via rotary screen printing. They used a machine that is able to achieve a cycle time of just 0.6 seconds per solar cell and enables a strong reduction in silver use.
France simplifies environmental permitting for solar up to 1 MW
The new measures are expected to accelerate solar deployment across the country.
The supply chain requirements UK solar developers will have to grapple with under CfD scheme
Any developers bidding to construct solar plants with more than 300 MW of generation capacity in the latest round of the UK’s clean power auction program will have to draw up a supply chain plan showing how they will address matters ranging from skills gaps to new technology to modern slavery.
Italy publishes new national guidelines for agrovoltaic plants
On June 27, the Guidelines for The Design, Construction and Operation of Agrovoltaic Plants were published in Italy by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, in coordination with the Council for Agricultural Research and Analysis of Agricultural Economics (CREA), Gestore dei Servizi Energetici S.p.A. (GSE), the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), and Research on the Energy System S.p.A. (RSE). From now on, developers and, in general, RES plant owners will have to consider the principles herein outlined, to have their plants classified as agrovoltaic.
Kenya defines net-metering rules for solar
Kenya’s new net-metering regulations will apply to PV systems up to 1 MW in size.
