Weekend Read: Agreeing on green hydrogen
In November 2022, Germany’s Energie Baden Württemberg and steelmaker Salzgitter Group signed one of Europe’s first power purchase agreements (PPAs) for hydrogen production. More have followed and with the European Union introducing rules to govern green hydrogen, an industry is planning for its future.
Dark December for northern Europe, sunny in the South
In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that increased cloud led to solar assets in Northern Germany and the Netherlands receiving only 70% of normal irradiance in December. This cloud activity, however, did not make it below the Alps, and Southern Europe saw reduced rain and significantly less cloud than normal, with some regions experiencing 130% of the normal December irradiance.
French startup offers new solution for green solar rooftops
Vegetek has developed a “biosolar” roof solution for new and existing buildings. It combines the benefits of greenery and solar panels.
IEA warns of Australian rooftop PV slowdown amid high costs, grid issues
The International Energy Agency (IEA) says the rollout of rooftop solar in Australia will drop off “faster than anticipated,” with grid integration challenges and saturation of the power system contributing to a revision of expectations for renewable energy growth.
Machine learning algorithm for inverter fault monitoring, prediction
The new algorithm monitors the inverter subsystems and sends alarms when maximum and minimum values are reached. It analyzes data and categorizes variables according to historic values.
Colombia introduces new provisions for energy communities
Colombia’s new decree includes requirements that energy communities must meet, such as rules on collective self-consumption and collective distributed generation.
Global solar irradiance ‘relatively stable’ in 2023, says Solargis
With global irradiance above average in Australia, Southeast Asia and Europe, and stable in the United States, solar data provider Solargis says stakeholders should focus on the stability of power grids, while navigating solar financing complexities in developing economies and supply chain capacities in 2024.
India adds 10 GW of new solar in 2023
India added about 6.5 GW of new utility-scale solar capacity in 2023. Capacity additions from rooftop installations hit 3 GW, according to JMK Research.
The effect of PV plants on albedo, vegetation, land temperature
Scientists have used remote sensing to analyze the effect solar farms have across 116 sites worldwide. They found that the cooling effect is higher during the daytime, with albedo decreasing by 0.016 for most facilities.
Australia’s rooftop PV additions hit 3.17 GW in 2023
A record 921 MW of PV was installed across Australian rooftops in the fourth quarter of 2023, taking new rooftop solar capacity to about 3.17 GW for all of last year.
