2023

Bear Valley Solar will deploy 240 kW of a 1.5 MW cattle-sited solar field pasture this year, with the first phase of construction ramping up this summer, developer David McFeeters-Krone told pv magazine USA.

Australian renewables startup Green Gravity has teamed with underground mining contractor RUC to accelerate the commercialization of its gravitational energy storage tech.

In May 2022, PV experts from around the world convened in Germany for the third Terawatt Workshop. Almost one year later, takeaways from discussions at the workshop – combined with a wide-ranging review of research on decarbonization pathways, energy demand projections, and the state of the art in PV technology – led to the conclusion that 75 TW of installed solar capacity by 2050 was a realistic global target. More than 50 leading PV industry figures recently outlined the opportunity and the challenges that solar will face in reaching this goal.

Christian Pho Duc, CTO of Smartenergy, spoke with pv magazine at Intersolar 2023 about the recent EU decision to remove uncertainties over the production and use of green hydrogen, as the European Union has finally defined criteria for solar-powered electrolyzers. He stressed the importance of the new targets, under which the industry will have to buy 42% of its hydrogen from clean sources by 2030.

Rodrigo Sauaia, the president of the Brazilian Association of Photovoltaic Solar Energy (Absolar), recently spoke with pv magazine about power purchase agreements, regulated auctions, macroeconomics conditions, and electricity prices in Brazil. He said the Latin American country could add 4.6 GW of utility-scale solar capacity this year, as well as another 5.5 GW from distributed generation.

Volkswagen France has commissioned a 20 MW solar carport project at its facility in Villers-Cotterêts, In northern France’s Hauts-de-France region.

The China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association said this week that wafer prices dropped by up to 5.6% compared to a week earlier. Wafer manufacturer Longi, meanwhile, said that the price downward trend reached the bottom in late June, with demand now beginning to grow.

The Dutch cabinet said it will support solar factories that will produce panels with a circular economy approach. It also allocated €296 million to support battery manufacturing.

Sofar, a China-based inverter and battery manufacturer, has introduced a new series of microinverters for balcony solar arrays and rooftop PV systems. They have a 97.5% efficiency rating and offer between 500 VA and 2,400 VA of rated power.

Oxford nanoSystems (OnS) has started working with electrolyzer manufacturers to test and scale up hydrogen production.