Emiliano Bellini
Indonesia moves forward with 1 GW pumped storage hydropower plant
The World Bank has agreed to finance part of a project owned by Indonesian state-owned utility, PLN. The facility is planned to enable a larger penetration of renewable energy to provide with power two large demand centers in West Java.
Romanian hydropower producer enters PV business with 45 MW ground-mounted project
The project will be built in Brăila county, southern Romania, at a cost of approximately $42.6 million. Hidroelectrica also wants to build several floating solar plants, totaling 5 MW, at some of its hydropower facilities.
Hanwha Q Cells unveils plan to produce perovskite, TOPCon solar modules
The $1.28 billion plan includes a 3.1 GW production capacity expansion in South Korea, where the company’s solar module capacity will reach 7.6 GW by 2025.
The world’s first large scale hybrid hydro-floating solar power plant
A Norwegian consortium led by Scatec is planning to build a hybrid hydropower-floating PV plant at an unspecified location in West Africa. Building both facilities simultaneously will help its developers define a series of parameters for proper sizing, optimization and design, and set a benchmark for future projects of this kind.
Cylindrical solar panel for street lighting
Developed by an Italian manufacturer, the panel is available in three versions with a power output of 100, 120, and 240 W and has a weight of 5 kg. It is encapsulated in thermoformable plastic technical polymers and can be connected in series with other modules around the same post.
Italy’s Lombardy region adds another €20 million for residential PV+storage
Italy’s richest and most dynamic region continues to support solar+storage installations with rebates.
Co-evaporated perovskite solar cell with 20.6% efficiency
Researchers in Singapore have built what they claim is the industry’s most efficient, large-area co-evaporated solar cell. According to their findings, the device has exhibited remarkable thermal stability and could reach commercial maturity within the next few years.
Cooling PV panels with water and cotton mesh
Scientists in Russia have developed an active cooling technique that spreads water on both sides of the module and uses a cotton wick mesh to absorb and spread the water that comes on the rear side. The system is able to reduce significantly a module’s operating temperature and lead to an overall improvement of 30.3% in its output power.
Toshiba claims 15.1% efficiency for polymer film-based large-area perovskite solar module
The result is claimed to be the highest efficiency ever reached for a large-area, polymer film-based perovskite photovoltaic module. The device has an area of 703 square centimeters and was fabricated through a new coating method.
JA Solar, JinkoSolar, Longi reach consensus on 182mm module standardization
The three Chinese panel manufacturers found an agreement on the module size and the mounting hole spacing.
