Eurowind Energy acquires 11 solar projects in Portugal
Denmark’s Eurowind Energy has signed a deal for 65 MW of solar in central Portugal, split equally between 11 projects. Construction is expected to begin before the second quarter of 2025.
France’s 2021-23 PV auctions show price increase despite lower panel costs
The French energy regulator says in a new report that France allocated about 5.55 GW of PV capacity through its auction mechanism for large-scale solar between 2011 and 2013. Despite falling solar module prices, the auction mechanism did not lead to cheaper PV electricity or lower project costs.
New deep learning tech uses electroluminescence images to identify defective PV cells
The novel method uses the YOLOv8 framework, integrating an attention mechanism and a transformer model. It was tested on a dataset of 4,500 electroluminescence images against several other models and its results were up to 17.2% more accurate.
Brazil to launch large-scale energy storage auction in 2025
The Brazilian authorities say they plan to hold a large-scale energy storage auction in 2025, potentially creating a market for large-scale storage facilities in the country.
End of net metering not a threat to residential solar profitability
The Netherlands is preparing to end its net-metering scheme, prompting two Dutch research institutes to study the potential impact on PV system profitability. They found that increasing self-consumption rates from 30% to 60% would keep profitability levels stable.
Ampin, Sumitomo set up renewables venture
Ampin Energy Transition and Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. have formed a joint venture company, Ampin C&I Power, to develop renewable energy sources in India.
Drone-based electroluminescence services for rooftop PV
Solevi, a German electroluminescence (EL) inspection company, has launched drone-based electrical inspection services for rooftop solar installation in Germany with plans to automate further and expand geographically.
New defrosting tech may increase coefficient of performance of air-source heat pumps by up to 11.2%
Researchers in the United Kingdom have presented a new heat pump system that may avoid reducing heat supply during defrosting operations. The proposed concept can reportedly execute defrosting operations while ensuring continuous heating by condensing the refrigerant in the frosted evaporator.
Hygroscopic hydrogel may increase solar module yield by 2.1%
Researchers in China have found that a special type of hygroscopic hydrogel made of the polyacrylamide polymer and lithium chloride may reduce PV module temperature by up to 7.5%. They have also developed a mathematical model to analyze the operational mechanisms and factors responsible for the cooling performance.
Demand for large capacity battery storage cells goes strong as prices continue to slide
The analysis from Taipei-based intelligence provider TrendForce finds that the average price for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) energy storage system cells continued to slide in August, reaching CNY 0.35/Wh ($0.049/Wh). Meanwhile, demand for large capacity cells continued to grow at a steady pace.
