The EU’s Sustainable Taxonomy was intended to complement the Green Deal, provide investors with certainty about the sustainability of their investments, and help channel billions into sustainable, low-carbon processes and technologies. Despite input from experts and NGOs, the inclusion of gas and nuclear power just proposed by the Commission suggests that, once again, politics is trumping science.

Brazil’s deployment of distributed generation PV (below 5 MWp) has exploded from a total capacity of 500 MW in 2018 to 7 GW by September of this year. The trigger for this increase, alongside rocketing electricity prices, was the 2019 proposal of law 5829, writes IHS Markit analyst Angel Antonio Cancino. The proposal is expected to pass into law at the end of this year and will gradually introduce grid-access charges for residential and commercial system owners.

Structural imbalances in the supply chain and the energy intensity and consumption controls that China imposed in late September have caused prices for most PV module materials and components to continue to rise. Shipping fees and PV plant construction costs also remain high. PV plants in many regions will therefore be postponed until next year, but it remains unclear when module prices will start to fall. Despite these challenges, the global race to cut carbon emissions continues, and InfoLink’s Corrine Lin forecasts a bright future for PV deployments in 2022.

The EU has been pouring money into European battery manufacturing and recycling projects but has, as yet, been unable to address the critical question of raw materials, according to analyst WoodMac.

As 2021 ends, we enter a period of reflection and preparation. The ongoing pandemic has brought supply chain disruption, while the increasingly severe effects of the climate crisis loom over us. This winter, Europeans are struggling through unprecedented energy costs, driven by extremely high global gas prices. A year of difficulties has shown that Europe, more than ever, must accelerate the deployment of renewables to provide our economy with reliable, low-cost, and clean energy.

The Baltic state has offered energy-intensive, international-facing industries up to an 85% discount on a surcharge levied on electricity consumers since May 2017 and made the scheme wider ranging this year, in a move approved by the European Commission.

Advances in solar power and other clean energy technologies have failed to keep up with demand for electricity as economies rebound from the Covid crisis and China and India’s fossil fuel appetite will ensure the world stays well short of what is needed for a net zero 2050 for at least the next three years.

A news article published on Friday stated 13 cases had been confirmed and a senior physician said the working hypothesis was that at least half of the 120 people who attended the event had been infected. pv magazine has contacted Scatec for an update.

Solar manufacturer Jolywood, which supplied almost 500 MW of its bifacial tunnel oxide passivated contact panels for Oman’s Ibri II facility, has claimed the power plant is the biggest to date to deploy the high-efficiency technology.

The latest edition of a clean power jobs survey produced by IRENA and the International Labour Organization has stressed the important role which will need to be played by the public sector if the energy transition’s employment benefits are to be shared equally.

Furthermore, Tongwei secured 104,800,000 wafers from Shuangliang and PV module manufacturer Yingli said its capacity has reached 8GW.

Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) and Covestro also want to partner on the supply of green hydrogen and its derivatives, including green ammonia. And the Indian government is cooperating with the IRENA to scale-up hydrogen and renewable energy projects.

Through this operation, the French investment firm wants to help Ikaros Solar further develop its 300MW solar project pipeline.

India’s production-linked incentive scheme for advance-chemistry battery cell production has received bids for 2.6 times more than the 50 GWh of manufacturing capacity it plans to allocate.

At Intersolar North America in California, Canada-based Discover Battery has launched the Helios energy storage system, an LFP battery designed to operate in remote conditions.

SMA’s new hybrid inverter reaches a maximum efficiency of 98.2% and a maximum European efficiency of 97.5%. It is compatible with DC-coupled high-voltage lithium-ion batteries from leading suppliers, according to the manufacturer.

Global Industry Analysts has predicted the rapid rise of floatovoltaics, a market that is expected to serve areas with land-use concerns.

Sydney-based 5B has launched a AUD 33.4 million ($24 million) tech innovation program, including a AUD 14 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, to accelerate the delivery of low-cost solar. Most of the investment is portioned off for an advanced manufacturing pilot line, but about one-third of the available funds will be used to deliver GPS-guided solar deployment robots.

The south-oriented project has been under development since 2019 and is set to occupy a total surface of 10 hectares across two plots. It will provide power to the municipalities of Bunnik, Odijk, and Werkhoven

Compiled by an international research group, the best practices were collected from all available guidelines published by national agencies, regulatory bodies, and trade associations.

The Indian manufacturer has unveiled its Series 10 monocrystalline PERC solar modules featuring 144 half-cells based on an M10 wafer. The modules are available in monofacial and bifacial versions with a maximum efficiency of 21.33% and 21.13%, respectively.

The Korea Institute of Energy Research has developed a 3kW solar noise barrier to produce electricity and heat. The thermal solar modules reduce the operating temperature of the photovoltaic panels by absorbing excess heat.

A British-Indian research group has developed an active cooling technique that is claimed to improve a PV system’s yield by around 0.5%. The system could be used in residential solar arrays and the water heated by the PV modules may be fed into a solar water heating system.

The basic version of the “Delta Pro” product has a storage capacity of 3.6kWh. The weight of the battery in the basic version is 45kg and its size is 63.5×28.5×41.6 cm.

The solar cell was built with Al2O3-incorporated CZTSSe absorbers using aqueous spray pyrolysis in ambient air. It achieved an open-circuit voltage of 0.469 V, a short-circuit current of 36.96 mA cm2, and a fill factor of 67.25%.

Australian solar window supplier ClearVue says its products can reduce carbon emissions in buildings by as much as 90%, while California-based BIPV window coating producer Ubiquitous Energy has raised $70 million to scale up its own tech.

The device has a 4-in-1 design, which means it can be connected with four solar panels with a power output of up to 625 W each, through four independent connections. The output of each panel is tracked and converted individually. According to the Chinese manufacturer, the micro-inverter can ensure savings of up to 50% due to the lower number of devices and cables needed.

The companies will collaborate on what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind attempt to incorporate QuantumScape’s solid-state lithium-metal battery technology into stationary energy storage products.

Lithuanian scientists built the panel with 23.9% efficient solar cells with operational stability of over 1000 h. The module has an active area of 26 cm2.

The new heterojunction module series is compatible with Panasonic’s Evervolt battery and has a power output ranging from 400 to 410 W. It also features a temperature coefficient of -0.26% per degree Celsius.

Neoen has started to develop 1.2GW of wind, 600 MW of solar and 900 MW of battery storage capacity. Upon completion, the installation will likely be Australia’s largest wind, solar and battery storage project.

Toshiba has developed a battery that can be used with PV modules, with a design that charges and discharges at high currents. The new 20Ah-HP SCiB product has a rated capacity of 20Ah, a nominal voltage of 2.3V, and an input power of 1,900W. It measures 116 mm x 22 mm x 106 mm and weighs 545 grams.

The uptake of EVs in the years ahead will add up to staggering battery capacity, mostly sitting idle on driveways. The two-way flow of electricity from EV batteries, known as vehicle to grid, could not only enable power systems to rely on intermittent renewables, but could also be the trump card for network operators to respond to grid disturbances. However, there are still a few catches to be worked out, as Marija Maisch explains.

Canada’s First Hydrogen and German consulting firm FEV are developing a hydrogen fueling station for remote locations where there are no electrical power grids available. Furthermore, Japan and Indonesia have started to cooperate on hydrogen and carbon capture technologies and the UK gas grid is set to start blending hydrogen around the country from next year.

Local planning committees have given a go-ahead to a £2.5 billion gigafactory in the English West Midlands. The facility will be powered by 100% onsite solar and storage and equipped to both manufacture new batteries and recycle used ones.