2024

UK-based solar and energy storage developer Elements Green has secured planning consent for its Staythorpe Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project in the UK. The system will be colocated with a massive 800 MW solar farm.

Solar modules are evaluated in the Renewable Energy Test Center annual PV Module Index.

The BRL 950 million ($175 million) São João do Paracatu solar park in Minas Gerais employs 500,000 solar modules distributed over an area of ​​509 hectares and counts clients in the areas of mining, magnesium industrialization and plastic production and recycling.

In the second interview in a series held at Intersolar 2024, pv magazine spoke with Karen Tang, editorial director for Europe at US-based global energy price reporting agency OPIS, about the strong pressure on prices across all segments, including the downstream business. She defined the current market situation as “unhealthy” and “bleak” for the PV industry, although she acknowledged that overcapacity is also making solar extremely competitive compared to all other energy sources. Tang also expects pressure on electricity and gas prices to continue this year.

The quality of home energy management systems is a concern for the industry. More than 300 participants at the pv magazine Focus Event in the conference center of the Munich Trade Fair Center made this clear. To provide a glimpse into the “black box,” manufacturers, scientists and users discussed the most important criteria.

At Intersolar in Munich, pv magazine spoke with Jenny Chase, solar analyst at BloombergNEF, about the incredibly low polysilicon prices, massive overcapacity, and increasing consolidation. According to Chase, this year there will be enough polysilicon capacity to produce 1.1 TW of solar modules, but global module demand is expected to reach around 585 GW. “That is a pretty huge delta,” she said, noting that the solar industry should also prepare for a series of “negative feedback mechanisms,” such as negative prices and excess of solar power.

In May 2024, high-efficiency panels, predominantly glass-glass modules equipped with tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) cells began to converge on price with mainstream offerings, writes Martin Schachinger, of pvXchange. Production volumes for these negatively-doped, “n-type” cells and modules have been ramped up in China while the increasingly restrictive customs situation in the United States may already be having an impact. For the European market, ever-lower prices for the latest module technology would suggest that demand would continue to rise were it not for a number of disruptive factors.

At least 22 people, most of them foreign nationals, were killed in a massive fire at a South Korean factory that manufactures non-rechargeable lithium batteries in Hwaseong city, just south of Seoul. The cause of the blaze is still being investigated.

An analysis by Eon and Aachen University shows how quickly heat pumps with and without photovoltaic systems and storage pay for themselves in different types of homes, also in comparison to gas heating. A heat pump with photovoltaics is usually more economical than without. Balcony solar usually pays for itself in three to six years. An accompanying survey shows that most people underestimate the economic viability of climate-friendly energy technologies.

Israel’s Ministry of Energy says it will exempt hybrid solar inverters from purchase tax and customs duties. It claims that these policy mechanisms will help during energy emergencies.