Floating PV offers alternative to grid outages in South Africa
A 60 kW floating array was deployed by New Southern Energy at the reservoir of a fruit farm near Franschhoek, in the Western Cape Province. A second phase of the project will also include storage.
Storage preferred to net metering in Indonesia as new rules prove ineffective
According to solar body the PPLSA, around 300 PV system owners have already gone off-grid as the tariff granted for surplus power under net metering was not attractive enough. Several barriers are preventing net metering taking hold, including an obligation to either use locally made equipment or pay more to re-certify imported modules and inverters.
Can you hack the grid using an inverter?
Maybe. But you’d be better off using a laptop. And no, Huawei inverters aren’t going to cause a blackout.
Ukraine reaches 1.33 GW of installed solar power
In 2018, newly deployed PV capacity in the eastern European country totaled 645 MW. Demand is mainly driven by large-scale projects under the FIT scheme, but residential solar under net metering is also providing a significant contribution.
Shell and Total join fossil fuel companies bidding for a piece of Europe’s PV renaissance
With Europe set to return to solar power levels last seen during the PV boom seven years ago, a wave of mergers and acquisitions is taking place as the oil and gas majors splash the cash to buy the expertise needed to participate in PV’s new dawn.
Belgium’s PV capacity tops 4.25 GW
Most of the nation’s solar is in Flanders, which at the end of December had more than 3 GW of grid-connected PV. Wallonia and Brussels account for the remaining 1.1 GW and 83 MW, respectively. Although Belgian solar is still dominated by residential PV, a stronger stimulus for the market may come from the large-scale segment in the years ahead.
Solar made up 50% of India’s new power capacity in 2018
The level of new solar capacity – 8,263 MW – however, was 15.5% down from the 9,782 MW added in 2017 owing to safeguarding duty and tax taking a toll on large-scale PV. While utility-scale solar declined 23% year-on-year, rooftop PV remained a bright spot, and registered impressive growth of 66%.
The promised land of floating PV now has guidelines for proper deployment
The Netherlands-based Foundation for Applied Water Research has published a Guide for the licensing of floating solar parks on water and developed a tool to measure the effect of PV modules on water quality and quantity and the ecosystem.
Floating solar reaches new territories
In Cambodia, Singapore’s Cleantech is building a 10 MW solar plant including a 2.7 MW floating section, and in Lithuania, state-owned utility Lietuvos Energija is deploying a floating plant at the Kruonis pumped storage hydroelectric power plant.
Xinyi sees the positives despite a bruising year for solar glass
The manufacturer endured a rollercoaster ride in 2018, as China’s 5/31 policy decision saw prices plunge before staging a partial recovery. But the Wuhu-based company saw an uplift in its development business and is forging ahead with production expansion amid bullish predictions for the future of PV.
