Microgrid

The Japanese PV industry should respond to the government’s recent decision to leave its 2030 energy mix targets unchanged by pushing for a higher share of solar in the next version of the country’s strategic energy plan, according to a new report.

Where can I charge my glow-stick? Two companies in the Netherlands are joining forces to displace portable diesel generators on the northern European festival scene this summer.

While Africa has emerged as a dynamic, fast-moving hub, Asia leads in capacity deployment with its total capacity more than tripling to nearly 4.3 GW in 2017 from 1.3 GW in 2008, finds IRENA. Particularly, in India, a strong policy has pushed deployment of off-grid solar for agriculture and public end-uses.

GE Power Grid Solutions has presented a new white paper detailing the opportunities and challenges of smart grid applications in Sub-Saharan Africa. The report says that updating the centrally designed grid to expand and improve resilience may not be the most economical way to ensure energy access to the households in the region.

UN delegates are meeting in New York to negotiate further realization of the Sustainable Development Goals. One of the goals is to ‘Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.’ And Bloomberg NEF argues that thanks to new technology this goal is more feasible than ever, and that delegates should focus on building financial and regulatory frameworks to enable large scale micro-grid development.

The project connects four to six households, and lets dwellers pre-purchase daily access to electricity using a mobile app. A successful trial phase has just been finished and the executing association, Nanoé Développement has set new goals to reach in the near future.

DNV GL, Deakin University, the CSIRO, and the Smart Energy Council have come together to collaborate on a two-year project to develop a new performance standard for distributed energy storage systems. The work behind the proposed Australian Battery Performance Standard is being funded $1.9 million from ARENA and the Victoria state government.

Inverter manufacturers tapped into the major theme of digitization in their product presentations at this year’s Smarter E event in Munich – of which Intersolar Europe is a part of. The solutions deploy smart software solutions for maximizing self-consumption, O&M provision and enable hybrid architectures across all three market segments.

German battery manufacturer, Tesvolt and EPC Unlimited Energy won the Smarter E award last week, for their innovative off-grid solar plus storage project in South Western Australia. The project demonstrates how solar can provide a reliable energy supply without back up from the grid, and why it is set to spread around the world even faster than many predict.

Distribution network operator, UK Power Networks is on track to launch what it says is London’s first virtual power plant (VPP). To this end, batteries will be installed on around 40 homes in the U.K. capital.