2023

A French consortium featuring Akuo and Sagecom has built a 30 MW solar plant in Niger. The European Union, the French Development Bank and the government of Niger co-financed the installation.

Tata Group says it will build a 40 GWh battery factory in the United Kingdom to produce batteries for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and other electric-vehicle manufacturers in the Great Britain and Europe.

Researchers in the Middle East have developed a new design for energy systems combining PV power generation with Trombe walls in buildings. They claim their new system configuration with reflective mirrors offers improved overall system efficiency both in terms of heating and electricity production.

Researchers in Austria have analyzed the crack propensity of backsheets made of polypropylene (PP) and have concluded these may be potentially used in solar module manufacturing, unlike co-extruded polyamide backsheets, which caused many headaches to the PV industry in the past. Furthermore, PP backsheets are claimed to have lower stiffness and higher flexibility than their laminated counterparts.

Utilities increasingly recognize heat pumps as a critical technology for heat decarbonization. They are deploying multi-megawatt systems in different parts of Europe to simultaneously serve multiple users and offer new avenues for the decarbonization of buildings.

Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI) has started accepting bids from solar manufacturers to supply 1 GW of PV modules built with domestically manufactured solar cells. Bidding closes on Aug. 17.

The government of the Australian state of New South Wales has provided planning approvals for two new grid-scale batteries. They will deliver a combined 540 MWh of energy storage capacity to support the state’s rapidly changing energy market.

LevelTen Energy has reported a 1% decline in power purchase agreement (PPA) prices from the first quarter to the second quarter in the United States, following three years of consecutive quarterly increases.

Scientists in Cyprus evaluated six different models used to predict the power losses caused by the accumulation of dust, dirt, and other substances on the surface of PV panels in the island’s arid climate. Results from the various models were compared with soiling loss data from a “test bench” installation at the University of Cyprus in Nicosia, revealing a potential advantage for machine-learning approaches backed by satellite data.

Madagascar has tendered a 200 MW solar project near Antananarivo and a 10 MW facility on its north coast.