2024

Andries Wantenaar, solar analyst at Rethink Technology Research, tells pv magazine that high overcapacity levels in the polysilicon industry are exerting enormous pressure on prices for the entire supply chain. He says China hit 2.4 million tons of polysilicon production capacity at the end of 2023, and notes that the nation will end 2024 with 4 million tons of capacity if all announced production plans are realized.

An international research team has placed a neem oil tank on the back of solar modules for cooling purposes. The proposed solution reportedly improves PV panel performance by up to 17.8%.

Already 2024 is shaping up to be another record year for solar installations. In Europe, projects are getting bigger as increasing difficulty with obtaining a grid connection makes smaller systems unviable. pv magazine recently caught up with Bernhard Suchland, CEO of Germany/Bulgaria based project services provider Sunotec, for a look a closer look at this and other trends in the large-scale PV segment.

Battery research is advancing to address issues in the lithium-ion development process and concerns about safety and aging. Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) tech, meanwhile, is in the starting blocks, but interoperability is the key hurdle to achieving mass market penetration.

Mahindra & Mahindra Group’s renewables unit, Mahindra Susten, will develop a 150 MW hybrid wind-solar project in India for offtake by commercial and industrial (C&I) customers. The total project cost is about INR 12 billion ($143.7 million).

Representatives from the European Solar Manufacturing Council, Ultra Low Carbon Solar Alliance, PVthin, and the Environmental Coalition on Standards have proposed changes to the carbon footprint accountability methodology, the use of green certificates, and the planned design of the Energy Label for PV products.

The European Union has formally adopted a directive on energy performance for buildings. It requires member states to develop their trajectories for reducing energy use in buildings, in addition to ensuring that new structures are solar ready. The legislation will go into force in the coming weeks.

The government of the Australian state of Queensland says it has committed AUD 2.5 million ($1.6 million) to progress the development of an “Australian first” solar-panel recycling scheme, in preparation for “thousands” of PV modules installed on rooftops and in large-scale solar farms that are approaching end of life.

The Norwegian PV planning software company said it added the new PV degradation maps to pinpoint site locations with favorable climatic conditions.

The Asia Society Policy Institute says that the electrolyzer market in India to supply green hydrogen for the steel, ammonia, and methanol industries could soar from $4 billion in 2030 to $78 billion by 2050 if the nation stays on track to achieve its declared net zero target.