Commercial & Industrial PV

The provisional figure took the nation to a cumulative 215MW at the end of the year, according to new statistics provided by Norwegian solar industry organization the Solenergiklyngen.

Cape Town-based solar crowdfunding platform The Sun Exchange in April announced completion of its largest funding call, for US$1.4 million to finance what it described as a 510kW solar-plus-storage facility for Zimbawean food company Nhimbe Fresh. With the first part of a planned three-phase “going solar” transformation of the business complete, pv magazine spoke to The Sun Exchange founder and CEO Abraham Cambridge, and to Nhimbe Fresh chairman Edwin Masimba Moyo.

SMA’s new hybrid inverter reaches a maximum efficiency of 98.2% and a maximum European efficiency of 97.5%. It is compatible with DC-coupled high-voltage lithium-ion batteries from leading suppliers, according to the manufacturer.

The Sun Rock building is owned by Taiwan’s power utility Taipower. It was covered with 4,000 square meters of PV panels deployed by Dutch architectural firm MVRDV.

Sydney-based 5B has launched a AUD 33.4 million ($24 million) tech innovation program, including a AUD 14 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, to accelerate the delivery of low-cost solar. Most of the investment is portioned off for an advanced manufacturing pilot line, but about one-third of the available funds will be used to deliver GPS-guided solar deployment robots.

Through this operation, the French investment firm wants to help Ikaros Solar further develop its 300MW solar project pipeline.

Compiled by an international research group, the best practices were collected from all available guidelines published by national agencies, regulatory bodies, and trade associations.

The procurement exercise’s final prices ranged between €0.0570 and €0.0828 per kWh.

The Indian government has ruled that only solar products and companies on the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers will be eligible for open-access and net-metering projects, in addition to government-backed installations. This includes arrays set up to sell electricity to the government under Section 63 of the Electricity Act, 2003. The amendment will apply to projects that request open access or net metering from April 1, 2022.

Toshiba has developed a battery that can be used with PV modules, with a design that charges and discharges at high currents. The new 20Ah-HP SCiB product has a rated capacity of 20Ah, a nominal voltage of 2.3V, and an input power of 1,900W. It measures 116 mm x 22 mm x 106 mm and weighs 545 grams.