Commercial & Industrial PV

Consultancy firm, the Becquerel Institute, recently switched on its European Solar PV Data Hub, an online tool aiming to provide clear information about the solar PV industry. The organization’s COO, Philippe Macé, told pv magazine that the platform aims to provide users a way to access solar PV market data ‘easily,’ its other purpose is to shrink the industry’s ‘information gap.’

Gestory dei Servizi Energetici (GSE), the Italian energy agency, has launched on online map to help developers of energy communities to identify grid connection points.

PVcase has introduced a new AutoCAD tool for rooftop PV systems, featuring 3D building preparation, layout generation, shading calculation, and electrical design capabilities.

Philippine government’s National Irrigation Administration revealed that two canal-top solar arrays for irrigation purposes were recently commissioned. It also said that 147 solar-powered irrigation projects in the country will be delivered by the end of the year, with 183 in the pipeline for 2024.

Kyocera has moved into the PV generation business by announcing plans to procure surplus solar from owners of rooftop PV systems in Japan, so it can provide it to businesses through power purchase agreements (PPAs).

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that Germany and Central Europe saw their highest September irradiances in at least 17 years, due to an ‘Omega block’ weather pattern, which kept high pressure stuck over Central Europe, leading to consistently clear skies there, but pushed cloud and storms southward.

The Luxembourg Ministry of Energy has allocated 52.7 MW in an agrivoltaics tender. While the final prices from the procurement exercise have not been disclosed, the ministry said it considered ecological and agricultural factors.

Indian manufacturer Jakson introduced its 590 W TOPCon bifacial solar panels, with a power conversion efficiency of 22.86%, at Renewable Energy India Expo 2023 this week.

Soleolico says its new hybrid system uses ultra-light solar panels from Spanish manufacturer Izpitek and wind turbines that follow the wind through a magnetic system. The system is also able to absorb CO2.

Wood Mackenzie says O&M contract prices for US utility-scale project averaged $7.90/kW in 2022, underscoring the growing fragmentation of the solar O&M segment. However, the rankings of the top three vendors have remained unchanged from 2021.