Commercial & Industrial PV

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that this winter brought dry and warm conditions to most of South America, resulting in higher-than-normal irradiance across the continent. The conditions have been particularly dry in the Amazon basin, favoring wildfire activity, and the resulting smoke has reduced solar irradiance along the plume’s path.

Swiss startup Sun-ways is planning to build a 18 kW pilot PV system between the racks of a 100-m linear section of a railway line in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel.

Norway’s Volue has launched an automated trading tool for solar and wind operators covering most European power markets . The Volue Position Closer is a subscription-based tool targeted at renewable energy producers, portfolio managers, and municipal utilities.

Jakson Solar’s Helia NXT R series PV modules utilize rectangular 16-busbar n-type TOPCon cells and have an efficiency of up to 23.34%.

The India-based module producer said its new panels have a power conversion efficiency of up to 23.1% and a temperature coefficient of -0.24% per C.

An international group of scientists has designed a patented mooring tech and a vertical PV system that reportedly allows the bifacial solar panels to align with the prevailing wind direction to shed wind loads. Depending on a project’s latitude, the system can deliver different power yield.

Portugal-based Effizency, a developer of sales software for solar PV and heat pump solution providers, has launched a new web-based simulator module that its customers can use to deliver initial price quotes and savings estimates to potential buyers.

A group of researchers has proposed a new method for the sizing of PV systems that do not rely on an anti-dump system and operate without the possibility of injecting power into the grid. The novel approach requires an estimate of the annual hourly profile and the minimum power demanded, as well as the use of an irradiance meter and an electrical network analyzer.

Créawatt unveiled this week a new version of its ultra-light Luxsiol photovoltaic system for zinc roofs. It weighs only 3.25 kg/m2 enabling all types of flat roofs made of bitumen, PVC, ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber, or T333/T250 steel sheet.

Once electricity prices hit $0.25/kWh, disconnecting from the grid with residential solar-plus-storage starts to become financially viable, with sunny places making strong financial arguments. With recent drops in battery prices, the case for leaving the grid has grown even stronger.