The Italian authorities have awarded three solar projects in yet another under-subscribed renewables tender. The lowest bid in the procurement exercise came in at €0.06819/kWh and was submitted for a 10 MW solar project. All bids were slightly below the ceiling price of €0.07/kWh. Wind secured most of the assigned capacity.

A researcher from the NREL has set up a series of datasets of measured ground albedo values using measurement network data in the U.S. and data contributed by the PV industry. The measured albedo datasets are intended to help developers of ground-mounted PV projects in making a choice between monofacial and bifacial panels.

The Italian inverter maker said the two devices were designed to deal with increasing PV module currents. The inverters have a power output ranging from 10 to 33 kW and are claimed to reach an input voltage of 1100 V (DC).

The interconnection tech, developed by scientists at the Belgian research institute Imec, is based on a three-dimensional fabric of encapsulant with incorporated horizontal and vertical solder‐coated metal ribbons. Mini solar modules built with the proposed technique have provided interesting results in tests for thermal cycling reliability, showing very limited degradation.

Scientists from Israel and France have proposed a PV-plus-thermal-storage (PV-TS) concept that may be applied in regions with low direct solar beam radiation and high levels of global solar radiation. They estimated that the grid penetration rate of a large scale PV plant, when combined with molten salt storage, may rise from around 30% to up to 95%.

Developed by scientists from German research institute Fraunhofer ISE, the silicon-carbide device claims 98.4% efficiency and could be used in utility-scale photovoltaic projects.

Scientists in Poland have measured the effect of solar radiation spectra in variable weather conditions on the performance of different kinds of PV module technologies. They found that amorphous silicon panels offer the best response to this effect in stationary or BIPV projects on facades, while crystalline silicon and CIS solar panels represent the best options in projects with trackers.

The Tunisian government hopes to build six solar plants in its latest procurement round, with capacities of 10 MW each, in addition to 10 smaller solar arrays, each up to 1 MW in size.

The tender was launched by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA). Interested developers will have time until February 15 to submit their offers.

Ecopetrol has announced plans to develop six new solar projects, which will bring its total installed PV capacity to 155 MW by the end of this year.