Ambitious targets for solar energy generation present challenges to an industry keen to explore new avenues for solar production. Neil Spann, chief executive of UK thin film solar manufacturer Power Roll, describes a commercial solution to the problems of over reliance on silicon solar modules.

Three import deals signed by the EU at Sharm El Sheikh during this month’s COP27 summit show the European Union is serious about harnessing green hydrogen for its heavy industry, and about distributing the fruits of the energy transition on an equitable basis.

The PV sector has significant implications for the economy, society and the environment. Positive impacts show that PV is a key contributor on the path to sustainability, and that highlighting these benefits could raise social and political acceptance in the transition to sustainable energy.

With installers who cater to African businesses making the headlines this year, Jasper Graf von Hardenberg – whose C&I solar business was recently bought by Shell – explains here how the story of the continent’s commercial and industrial (C&I) solar segment was far from an overnight success.

As part of Aurora Solar’s Empower 2022 online solar summit, Bernadette Del Chiaro, from the California Solar & Storage Association, will moderate a talk about electric utilities and how they have abused their monopoly position to discriminate against solar in the US. Here, she gives pv magazine a taste of the presentation.

The off-grid solar sector has shown resilience in the face of pandemic-related challenges, with 70 million people gaining access to electricity from early 2020 to the end of 2021. However, the ability to pay for solar energy kits has taken a hit.

The African Development Bank has announced that European and US donors will provide $20 million of concessional loans to support pay-as-you-go solar companies in sub-Saharan Africa.

The International Renewable Energy Agency’s latest annual report on the progress towards UN sustainable development goal seven estimates 670 million people will still lack electricity in 2030, and more than 2 billion will be reliant on unhealthy, polluting cooking methods.

It should come as no surprise that clean energy spending is a big chunk of Warsaw’s four-year EU grant and loans package, given that the nation’s grid-connected solar capacity rose from 3.99 GW at the end of 2020 to 6.3 GW four months ago, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.

The clean power numbers published annually by the International Renewable Energy Agency provide a snapshot of the global solar market and, this year, a lot of figures were unchanged from the previous dataset, especially in the off-grid segment.

Th International Energy Agency (IEA) says unsubsidized heat pumps are already competitive with gas boilers in mature markets like the United States, Canada, Japan, Italy, and China. It says global sales will soar to record levels by 2030.

The Spanish government say it will finance five hybrid battery energy storage projects, with a cumulative installed capacity of at least 600 MW. Each project can secure up to €15 million ($15.68 million) in funding.

PlasticBean, a manufacturer of recycled plastic pellets, has agreed to work with EDPR Sunseap to use 100% recycled plastic in floating PV solar projects in Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea.

Germany added 6.1 GW of new PV systems in the first 10 months of 2022.

Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power is now seeking land to build 1 GW of solar projects in Bangladesh. It is negotiating power prices with the Bangladesh Power Development Board.

Leeward Renewable Energy has switched on the 100 MW Rabbitbrush solar array in California. It includes a 20 MW/50 MWh battery energy storage system and will sell electricity to two community-owned electricity suppliers under a 15-year power purchase agreement.

Rio Tinto plans to invest $402 million (AUD 600 million) to build two new solar farms and battery energy storage systems in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, as part of its efforts to decarbonize its iron ore operations.

Chinese scientists assessed water evaporation on plots of land covered by two different kinds of agrivoltaic arrays and managed to significantly reduce evaporation in both cases. They looked at the relationship between cumulative surface evaporation and evaporation time.

Brazilian scientists have assessed variations in temperature coefficients in solar modules to determine whether there is a relationship between the dependence of these coefficients and irradiance. They claim their work could be used to improve PV module performance modeling.

Dubai-based Amea Power will expand the Mohammed Bin Zayed solar plant in Togo from 50 MW to 70 MW, making it West Africa’s largest project. It will also add a 4 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS).

Russia’s Hevel Solar said its new modules are based on 166 mm x 166 mm half-cut cells. They reportedly have a bifaciality factor of 90% and a temperature coefficient of -0.26% per degree Celsius.

Grid operator ISA CTEEP has started commercially operating a large-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) at the Registro substation in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo. The 30 MW/60 MWh BESS is expected to provide backup power to the grid during hours of peak demand in summer.

India’s Poweron has developed wall-mount hybrid solar inverters with nominal power ratings of 3.68 kW, 4.6 kW, and 5 kW. They are compatible with lead-acid and Li-ion batteries.

Moroccan researchers have proposed the use of luminescent solar concentrators for power generation in greenhouses and agrivoltaic projects. They say they are capable of producing electricity in low-light illumination and converting ultraviolet light to visible light that could be used for crops.

China’s Bslbatt said its new product has a storage capacity of 5 kWh and a nominal voltage of 51.2 V. It measures 670 mm x 540 mm x 88 mm and is 90 mm thick.

Japan’s Itochu has announced a new tie-up with France’s Rosi Solar, which develops tech to recover and recycle high-purity silver, copper and silicon from solar modules.

Kaco has launched a new line of blueplanet NX3 three-phase string inverters for applications ranging from small residential rooftop arrays to projects on commercial buildings. They have outputs between 3 kW and 33 kW, a maximum efficiency of 98.0%, and a maximum European efficiency of 97.6%.

TCL Zhonghuan has announced wafer price cuts, Shenzhen Energy unveiled a plan to build a 2 GW solar-storage project, and the Chinese authorities have announced measures to expedite grid connections for new solar and wind plants.

Chinese scientists have made mono cast silicon ingots with high purity and low manufacturing costs. The new method will help industrial casting manufacturers to improve the cost performance of casting ingots.

Enel and Soltec have revealed plans to open a new factory on the grounds of a former thermal power plant owned by Enel’s Endesa unit in Teruel, Spain.

Italy added 303 MW/632 MWh of distributed energy storage capacity in the first nine months of 2022. The segment continues to grow in the country, led by the regions of Lombardy and Veneto.

Bill Gates-backed Rondo Energy has released the “brick toaster” heat battery, which stores renewable energy and dispatches heat and electricity for steel, cement, and chemical production.

Mitsubishi has released a cascaded air source heat pump that can produce between 7.8 kW and 640 kW of heat. It is reportedly able to generate hot water at a temperature of up to 70 C without boost heaters.

South Korean scientists have developed a highly selective palladium composite membrane on porous metal supports to cut the ammonia content of the permeated hydrogen stream. Dutch researchers, meanwhile, have presented two alternatives to this strategy – increasing the thickness of the membrane selective layer, or using a purification unit in the permeate of the membranes.

UK-based Gravitricity plans to set up a pilot demonstration project for its gravity energy storage systems in India.