France launches 400 MW C&I solar tender
The French authorities intend to allocate 400 MW of PV capacity through the procurement exercise, which is open to PV installations exceeding 500 kW in size.
Solar, battery-equipped home destroyed by explosion in Germany
In the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, an explosion tore away the outer wall of a show home equipped with solar panels and a residential battery. The badly-damaged building, which was vacant at the time of the incident, will likely be demolished.
Record 13.6 GWh of battery energy storage capacity added in January
Rho Motion noted big projects in Saudi Arabia and Hubei, China, and reported the only non-lithium-ion sites were three Chinese vanadium flow batteries.
Polysilicon market holds steady, awaiting policy-driven shift
In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.
Fraunhofer institutes developing electrocaloric solid-state heat pump without compressors
Six Fraunhofer institutes are developing new electrocaloric heat pumps that use elastocaloric heat pipes instead of compressors to extract heat from the sources. The first pilot systems developed by the research team achieved an electrical efficiency of 99.74%.
New research shows correlation between PV module electrode corrosion and damp heat test
A research group in Japan identified a correlation between damp heat test of 1,000 hours to 3–6 years of field exposure in humid areas and changes in acetic acid concentration in photovoltaic modules. Their analysis also showed that an acetic acid concentration over 10,000 μg/g can be critical.
U.S. startup unveils highly automated, low-waste solar panel recycling tech
PV Circonomy, based in California, has launched a recycling and treatment service for end-of-life (EoL) silicon PV panels based on a highly-automated, proprietary technology that reportedly has a 99.3% recovery rate. The solution includes the recovery of EVA and glass material for use in other industries.
Transformer fire at Australian solar farm under investigation
Electricity distribution company Powercor Australia attended the scene of a solar farm transformer fire near Raywood, Victoria, which is now being investigated by Energy Safe Victoria.
Indian startup offers PV-driven cold storage unit for ‘last mile’ vaccine transport
India’s Enhanced Innovations has developed the Phloton active cooling vaccine carrier with a 14-hour lithium battery backup and solar charging support.
GAF Energy releases nailable 57 W rooftop solar shingle
The updated solar roof product from GAF Energy has purportedly 23% more power than previous units and has a depth of less than 0.6 cm.
