Highlights

The energy minister of the Belgian French-speaking macro-region said that residential solar is now profitable without incentives in Belgium, and that no retroactive measures will be introduced.

Troubleshooting in solar plants requires not only trying to find a diagnosis of why the performance ratio is reduced, but also to localize faulty modules. In a recent pv magazine webinar, experts discussed four troubleshooting cases and explored whether module-resolved monitoring would help reduce the effort, and thereby decrease LCOE.

A new scheme aimed at supporting all rooftop PV segments is expected to be launched soon by the government. The new mechanism includes net metering, although with an additional grid fee covering storage costs, and FITs for small-scale solar. The government is also planning new auctions for rooftop solar geared towards new models of entrepreneurship.

The developers of the five newly selected PV projects, which were initially excluded from the round, have agreed to reduce their prices to the levels of those selected in late November. The additional solar capacity has raised the total assigned power for PV up to 816.3 MW.

While solar has been recognized in Scotland’s first energy strategy, which aims to supply half of the country’s energy needs from renewables by 2030, criticism has been aimed at the lack of concrete policy frameworks for solar, an energy source that could add 6 GW capacity in the next 12 years.

In this interview Mark Widmar talks about the market for PV modules and his company’s supply situation, First Solar’s position in the Section 201 case, and the role he sees for solar in the future of energy.

The Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) announced a new efficiency milestone, achieving 21.5% average cell efficiency for its fully screen printed bifacial silicon technology. According to SERIS, the milestone was achieved at pilot-scale production using commercially available wafers.

The Villanueva III projects, part of the 754 MW Villanueva complex, has started to inject power to the Mexican grid nine months ahead of schedule. Part of the solar park is still under construction by Italian energy company Enel.

The new 300 MW project is being planned by U.K.-based Solarcentury, Spanish developer Genia Global Energy, and France’s Canopy.

South Korea’s total installed renewables capacity will spike to 58.5 GW by 2030, from just 11.3 GW at present, under a new energy plan that prioritizes solar and wind development over nuclear generation.