Highlights

The Golomoti solar plant is expected to come online in 2022. The plant will be used to provide grid stability and reduce national dependence on diesel generators and hydroelectric generation.

AGL has revealed plans to acquire Epho and Solgen Energy Group, which will make it Australia’s largest climate polluter and its largest commercial solar provider.

Solar cell manufacturer Jiangsu Luneng Energy is planning to deploy more production capacity for both heterojunction and TOPCon products. Battery company CATL and inverter maker Kstar have completed construction of a 1 GW factory in Xiapu economic development zone, in Fujian.

Last week, several green hydrogen projects were announced in Latin America. AES Gener wants to set up a hydrogen production facility in Chile that would require around 850 MW of renewable energy capacity. The Uruguayan government is planning a tender for a pilot hydrogen project for sustainable mobility and the Mexican authorities are reviewing a large scale PV project planned to power a 75 MW hydrogen plant.

Russian nuclear energy giant Rosatom has acquired a 49% stake in Enertech International, a South Korean lithium-ion battery specialist, and has announced plans to build a gigafactory at an unspecified location in Russia. The start of production is scheduled for 2025.

PV systems are unique among electronic devices, as they are expected to survive outdoors for at least 25 to 30 years. This makes module and system quality one of the cornerstones of guaranteed returns on investment. Potential-induced degradation (PID) is a critical failure mode with a potentially high financial impact. New research from imec and Hasselt University looks at the damaging impact that PID can have on bifacial technology, writes Michaël Daenen, a professor at EnergyVille and Hasselt University.

According to new forecasts from AECEA, China may see strong development of large-scale solar plants this year, due to a massive pipeline of unsubsidized projects. Furthermore, the distributed generation segment will be boosted by incentives provided by the national and regional governments.

A numerical study by researchers at India’s Chitkara University has shown enhanced charge extraction in metal-perovskite-metal back-contact solar cell structure through electrostatic doping. The proposed design yielded a 59.4% improvement in power conversion efficiency over previously reported structures.

The Portuguese utility also wants to close all its coal power plants by 2025.

Through the operation, Shell wants to consolidate its position in the virtual power plant market.