US steel mill to get powered by 300 MW of solar
The iron and steel sector is the ‘world’s largest industrial source of climate pollution.’ This steel mill in Pueblo, Colorado, will be the first in North America to rely on solar power.
New trial could nix rooftop solar export tribulations in South Australia
As some parts of Australia’s distribution networks threaten to black out under the flow of rooftop solar exports, ARENA announces funding for a trial that will enable flexible exports in line with what the networks can bear. Smart software is the answer.
Swiss solar monitoring start-up raises $272,000
SmartHelio claims to have witnessed a near 200% jump in demand for its deep-data driven solar asset management solution, which plugs into solar panels or energy storage systems. Sales of the internet-of-things enabled, cloud product have leapt in the last six months.
France raises size limit for solar FITs from 100 kW to 500 kW
The French government has decided to reduce the planned degression rates for feed-in tariffs, in addition to raising the size limit for projects.
Agrivoltaics for pear orchards
Belgian researchers are testing agrivoltaic power generation in a pear orchard. The first pilot project features specially designed 185 W solar panels with transparent backsheets, conventional silicon cells, and a 21% efficiency rate.
EU on track for 2030 renewables target – but could do more
With the SolarPower Summit 2020 taking place this week, organizer SolarPower Europe has assessed the plans drawn up by member states would mean the bloc sourcing 33.1-33.7% of its energy from clean power by the end of the decade, with the help of 19 GW of new solar per year.
Germany breaches 52 GW mark with 409 MW of new solar in August
The first eight months of the year have brought 3.2 GW of new generation capacity, compared to 2.7 GW in the same period of last year.
IRENA presents $2tn plan to drive 5.5m renewables jobs by 2023
Doubling down on renewable energy investment and energy transition spending is required to ensure a truly green global recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and its economic aftershock, claims the International Renewable Energy Agency.
What is distributed generation’s real worth for the grid?
A thought experiment by UC Berkeley energy economist Severin Borenstein suggests how much rooftop solar could reduce transmission and distribution costs in the United States.
Solar under net metering reaches 3.6 GW in Brazil
According to Brazilian solar association ABSolar, there are currently more than 300,000 distributed generation PV systems connected to the country’s grid.
