Installations

Scientists in Sweden have compared AC and DC topologies in PV-powered buildings using battery storage. They have found that DC distribution systems can achieve energy savings when they are combined with solar-plus-storage systems.

Germany-based Solmax has developed a reflective membrane made of polyethylene resins and coated with a thin white polyethylene layer that reflects ultraviolet (UV) rays. The company claims the membrane can increase the energy yield of a bifacial PV project by between 5% and 20%, depending on the plant configuration.

The Romanian authorities say that its new state budget will facilitate the deployment of more than 150,000 PV systems.

Policymakers in Israel are trying to create better conditions for large-scale solar projects. Land for ground-mounted facilities is still limited to 2,000 hectares, which equals 2 GW of installed capacity.

China’s Trina Solar has published a white paper on its latest n-type TOPCon modules, with cost calculations and figures from demonstration projects. The Chinese PV manufacturer claims better performance from its 210 mm cells than with other n-type products based on smaller, 182 mm cells.

DT Global, a US-based development firm, is seeking engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors to build a PV plant with 5 MW to 7 MW of capacity in Lebanon.

Portugal’s cumulative PV capacity hit 2.59 GW at the end of 2022, outpacing the growth of other renewable energy sources. The country failed to meet its own installation predictions, likely because some large-scale projects awarded in the 2019 and 2020 auctions ended up missing their commissioning deadlines.

The Brazilian Association of Photovoltaic Solar Energy (ABSolar) says the country has reached 17 GW of installed solar capacity for PV projects below 5 MW in size. Over the past three months, connection requests for distributed-generation PV projects have hit 32 GW.

TBEA has developed new products with nominal power ratings of 10 kW to 25 kW and efficiencies of 98.5%.

Japan’s largest oil company, Eneos, has opened a green hydrogen demonstration plant in Brisbane, Australia. The project is relatively small, producing just 20 kilograms of green hydrogen per day, but Eneos Senior Vice President Yuichiro Fujiyama says the company will expand it in the “near future.”