Installations

Incorporating solar into our built environments represents an opportunity for hundreds of gigawatts to be installed worldwide without taking up any additional land. In many cases though, this will require solutions beyond typical rooftop PV installations and much closer cooperation between the PV and construction industries. A new report published by IEA PVPS looks to bring together the interests of both worlds, and clearly categorize both the building envelope and energy functions of different BIPV components.

The lack of proper business models, high upfront costs, and long payback periods are the key barriers to enabling the wider adoption of solar-powered heat pumps, according to recent research. Other factors reducing market acceptance are a lack of information on the technology and sociodemographic factors like public perception and peer effects.

Developed by Chinese specialist Mibet, the floating PV structure can reportedly endure wind and snow loads of up to 42m/s and 1KN/㎡, respectively, in all water environments. It was recently deployed in Poland, at a location where temperatures may reach as low as 40 degrees Celsius.

An Italian company has developed a system that can store energy from wind, solar and grid electricity by compressing and using CO2 without any emissions. The system draws CO2 from an inflatable atmospheric gas holder, stores it, and uses it to produce power again, when demand for stored energy arises.

Photon Energy has deployed its first merchant PV project in Hungary. The company said the €1 million plant may be the first in a series selling power to the spot market. In an interview with pv magazine, Hungarian renewable energy specialist, Ferenc Kis, stated that these projects may become more frequent in the future, due to new coordinated grid connection capacity allocation.

Two different technological developments were announced this week for concentrated solar power technology. In Australia, a consortium led by Vast Solar filed a patent for a new tank design for thermal energy storage systems. And in the United States, Heliogen announced the rollout of robots to install and clean projects.

India installed 7.4 GW of new solar capacity in the first nine months of 2021, putting this year on track to become one of the best 12-month periods on record for new PV installations.

A spokesperson for London-based installer Winch said the subsidized, $0.29/kWh electricity the networks will offer to villagers is the lowest price for such a system anywhere in the world.

The power development authority has signed 20-year electricity purchase deals relating to four solar projects and has awarded the highest price paid in the country to date for ‘clean’ energy, for an island-based system which includes battery storage and diesel generation.

Midsummer and Medacciai are developing a BIPV solution for curved metal roofs in southern European markets, through a five-year deal.