Highlights

In Taiwan, Gogoro has unveiled what is said to be the world’s first swappable lithium ceramic solid-state battery for two-wheelers. Furthermore, a new study tackled a long-held assumption that adding some liquid electrolytes to improve performance would make solid-state batteries unsafe and found them to be more powerful and safer than the conventional lithium-ion chemistry. In the UK, Aston Martin and Britishvolt have inked a deal to develop a new high-performance battery cell technology. Meanwhile, concerns surrounding the EV supply chain continue to grow.

This week has seen NASA announce the completion of a new folding array set to power a mission deep into our solar system, while scientists continue to work on new applications to take such explorations even further from the sun. New measurements also promise routes to higher efficiency in cadmium-telluride PV, and details emerge of one of thinnest solar cells seen so far.

The Chinese solar inverter manufacturer, which established its factory in India in 2018, has expanded the India fab capacity to 10GW/annum to serve different customer segments, including residential, commercial, industrial and utility-scale — both locally and globally.

The conversion of the 40 million acres of ethanol corn farms in the United States into solar-plus-food facilities could generate 1.5 times the nation’s electricity needs, while also powering a 100% electrified passenger vehicle fleet.

Trina Solar has unveiled a new PV module for residential and commercial applications. It has chosen the Australian market for the global launch of the new rooftop solar panel.

The nation accounted for almost a quarter of the UK’s clean energy generation in a Covid-hit year as renewables accounted for 61.8% of its power mix, according to a study produced by the UK government.

The new device is based on an inverted metamorphic multi-junction (IMM) cell technology developed by Rocket Lab’s unit Solaero. The cell can be used in applications in the civil, military, and commercial space markets.

The procurement exercise’s final average price is 7% higher than that of the previous tender of the same kind. Around 704.9MW of PV capacity was allocated by the French authorities.

Huawei and Meinergy plan to build a facility that could end up being Africa’s largest solar-plus-storage project. Huawei will supply its storage tech for the installation.

India’s cumulative rooftop solar installations surpassed 7GW in December. The state of Gujarat leads the country with the most installed rooftop solar capacity to date.