Commercial & Industrial PV

PowerFlex CEO Raphael Declercq speaks to pv magazine about growing demand for solar-optimized smart charging. He says the company, which is owned by EDF Renewables, can control batteries and loads in microgrids with its newly expanded EV-charging management software.

DSD Renewables and Black Bear Energy have installed 3,500 solar panels on vehicle canopies at a campground in southern California. Yale University researchers say that carports could meet about one-third of the US state’s total electricity demand.

Olivier Corradi, the CEO of Electricity Maps, speaks to pv magazine about why 24/7 granular accounting of electricity is key to decarbonization and how the company tracks the carbon intensity of otherwise elusive electrons.

The US government has introduced a new funding package to support residential solar and storage projects in Puerto Rico, followed by resilience solutions such as microgrids, community solar, and grid modernization.

Marcio Takata, the CEO of Brazilian consultancy Greener, speaks to pv magazine about new provisions for distributed solar that went into force in Brazil at the start of this year. He says the new rules will slightly affect payback times, while ensuring strong growth volumes.

Trina Solar says its new TOPCon solar panel combines a double-glass design with n-type technology. Its efficiency ranges from 20.8% to 22.3% and the power output is between 415 W and 445 W.

Croatia’s Viktor Lenac Shipyard aims to replace electric boilers and a water-to-water heat pump with a seawater heat pump, in order to provide heat and cooling for buildings. The pilot project is backed by EU funding and has launched a tender to support the construction of the seawater heat pump.

Scientists in Belgium have designed a solar-powered electrolyzer that uses standard-sized, large area shingled silicon PV for water splitting. The system is reportedly able to achieve solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 10% at electrolyzer current densities of approximately 60 mA cm−2.

Nina Hojnik, the director of the Slovenian Photovoltaic Association, speaks to pv magazine about new provisions for large-scale solar in Slovenia. She discusses several regulatory obstacles to developing agrivoltaics, as well as plans to phase out net metering for rooftop PV.

The United Kingdom hit 14.3 GW of cumulative solar capacity by the end of last year, according to provisional government data. New solar capacity grew by 4% year on year, with the rooftop PV market accounting for most of the new installations.