Highlights

Dutch materials company DSM has sold its resins and functional materials businesses, which encompass its anti-reflective and anti-soiling solar glass coating products. That will mean a focus on module backsheets in DSM’s Advanced Solar business unit.

With the SolarPower Summit 2020 taking place this week, organizer SolarPower Europe has assessed the plans drawn up by member states would mean the bloc sourcing 33.1-33.7% of its energy from clean power by the end of the decade, with the help of 19 GW of new solar per year.

The automaker has signed a power purchase agreement for a 180 MW solar project to be built in Arkansas. First Solar will supply the PV modules.

The Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy is tendering three solar power projects with capacity of 40 MW each. Mozambican utility Electricidade de Mocambique (EDM) is likely to be the future buyer of the renewable energy generated.

The first eight months of the year have brought 3.2 GW of new generation capacity, compared to 2.7 GW in the same period of last year.

Scientists at the University of New South Wales have developed a model to determine the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) by also considering historical weather data at specific locations. According to them, powering electrolyzers with off-grid solar offers the advantage of avoiding the expense of a grid connection and exposure to the risk of delays in both the physical connection and the approval process.

Huanghe Hydropower Development has connected a 2.2 GW solar plant to the grid in the desert in China’s remote Qinghai province. The project is backed by 202.8 MW/MWh of storage.

The PV module manufacturer has started mass production of its Vertex 550 W ultra-high-power modules at its factory in China’s Jiangsu province. It expects to start manufacturing 600 W panels in the first quarter of next year.

Built in Gangba County, in Xigaze, Tibet, the 40 MW/193 MWh facility was deployed at more than 4,700m above sea level and is functioning as a demonstration project for the ancillary services the technology could offer the Tibetan grid.

Doubling down on renewable energy investment and energy transition spending is required to ensure a truly green global recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and its economic aftershock, claims the International Renewable Energy Agency.