This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Deanna Greenhalgh, Director of Development at SAS Energy, EDF Renewables UK & Ireland C&I. She says that, earlier in her career, she sometimes felt that her knowledge and experience weren’t acknowledged, believed or expected by others. “I think this was a combination of being both young and female in what historically was a male-dominated industry, where clients, colleagues, and suppliers were more used to interacting with older men,” she states.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that August was an extraordinary month for solar energy production in the Southeastern states, while regions like the Midwest and Northeast experienced cloudier conditions and lower irradiance.

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.

Everoze Partner Nithin Rajavelu considers the crucial importance of properly measuring and managing battery state-of-charge (SoC) for the efficiency, longevity, and safety of battery energy storage system (BESS) projects, especially in lithium ferro-phosphate (LFP) devices, which are widely used for large-scale storage.

This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Medha Subramanian, Senior Power Systems Engineer at Elgin Energy. She says finding good mentors and managers is key to learn and grow in a professional journey. “It’s so helpful to get out to networking events, attend workshops and webinars, cold email people if you have to, and find mentors who inspire you and those who have a lot of knowledge to impart and experience to draw from,” she states.

The United States continues to set quarterly records for energy storage installations across each key market segment, said a report from Wood Mackenzie.

The preliminary decision on countervailing duties on cells from companies in Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand are lower than some expected for several major Chinese producers.

The Turkish authorities applied an anti-dumping tariff of $25/m2 solar modules imported from Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Croatia, and Jordan.

The price of silver has increased over 30% since the beginning of the year, with a particularly strong increase being registered in the last few months.

The opening day of Energy Taiwan and Net-Zero Taiwan 2024 has been postponed from Oct. 2 to Oct. 3 as Taiwan braces for Typhoon Krathon, a tropical cyclone that is now approaching the southern coast of the island.

The German company said its new products are suitable for PV systems with tilt angles ranging from 0 to 15.6 degrees.

UK-based Caldera has developed a new heat storage technology that can reportedly convert on-site generated solar power into on-demand heat, thus replacing conventional gas boilers. The system uses a composite of recycled aluminum and volcanic rocks to store heat at up to 500 C and produce steam.

Créawatt unveiled this week a new version of its ultra-light Luxsiol photovoltaic system for zinc roofs. It weighs only 3.25 kg/m2 enabling all types of flat roofs made of bitumen, PVC, ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber, or T333/T250 steel sheet.

Through the procurement exercise, the Emirates Water and Electricity Co. (EWEC ) is planning to build a giant solar farm in the Al Dhafra Region.

Once electricity prices hit $0.25/kWh, disconnecting from the grid with residential solar-plus-storage starts to become financially viable, with sunny places making strong financial arguments. With recent drops in battery prices, the case for leaving the grid has grown even stronger.

LG Chem has announced that its Platform Technology R&D team has developed a temperature-responsive Safety Reinforced Layer (SRL), a material which is described as capable of surpressing thermal runaway. The material was analyzed in collaboration with researchers from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in South Korea, while the safety verification was conducted in partnership with LG Energy Solution.

While different institutions are making the case for hydrogen production offshore or in proximity to the coast, the European Commission is preparing to move forward with its second hydrogen auction.

EnPV GmbH has developed a TOPCon solar cell concept featuring a novel type of back contact technology. The cell can reportedly be produced at signifcantly lower costs compared to conventional TOPCon cells and its manufacturinng process is claimed to be easy to introduce in existing TOPCon production equipment.

A research group at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee has fabricated 4-terminal silicon-perovskite tandem solar cells with power conversion efficiency of 28%. The team is now scaling up this technology to match 18.2 cm x 18.2 cm, commercial M10 solar cells dimension.

Western Australian battery technology company Altech Batteries has announced its first Cerenergy ABS60 salt-based battery energy storage system prototype is online and operating successfully across a range of temperatures, confirming its thermal stability and commercial viability.

The German PV system provider said its new solar carport is an ideal solution for shopping centres, supermarkets or do-it-yourself stores. It was conceived to operate with either standard or semitransparent bifacial double-glass PV panels.

New research from South Korea has shown that even a 10 μg/m3 increase in atmospheric particulate matter can considerably reduce solar power generation and impact revenue of PV system owners.

Researchers at the Polytechnic University of Madrid have validated a model to simulate solar resources for vehicle integrated PV in urban settings, taking into account reflections and shadows of buildings and objects.

Pakistan-based Solar Asia said its new heterojunction product uses 210 mm cells provided by Chinese manufacturer Tongwei. The panel is designed and engineered in Germany by Sonnex Energie and is initially intended for sale in the Pakistani market.

India-based Solex Energy plans to invest INR 8,000 crore ($954.5 million) by 2030 to achieve 5 GW of solar PV cell manufacturing capacity and 15 GW of module capacity.

Philippines’ Department of Energy cleared 29 utility-scale solar projects in the January-August period. Most of them have a capacity of more than 180 MW and four of them even exceed 500 MW. The list also includes eight floating projects each exceeding 100 MW.

Pending approval, a total of €167.6 million ($187.1 million) has been allocated toward 46 standalone thermal and electrical energy storage projects, with a cost range from €170/kWh to €409/kWh.

Chinese manufacturer Hinen has launched an integrated battery energy storage system with power options ranging from 3.6 kW to 25 kW for on- and off-grid residential applications.

Researchers in Denmark built a magnetocaloric heat pump prototype for heating purposes in residential buildings. Although more work is needed to bring the system closer to commercial maturity, it can reportedly achieve a 36.9 % heating power improvement with measurement feedback control.

According to the draft of the auction rules published by the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the procurement exercise will be held in June 2025 for systems with a power output of at least 30 MW that can store energy for at least four hours a day. The draft says that the contracts will cover a period of 10 years, with operation starting in July 2029.