Installations

The search for power system security has sparked an Australian first with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) confirming South Australian energy authorities switched off 67 MW of rooftop and large-scale solar PV at the weekend when electricity demand plunged to a near-record low.

The destructive potential of hail on solar arrays has only been fully realized in the last two years. In this series, pv magazine talks with experts in storm modeling, risk insurance, and damage mitigation to learn how solar arrays can survive nature’s wrath.

Canadian Solar is pivoting towards energy storage and is preparing to IPO its manufacturing and Chinese solar project activity in China, under the CSI Solar operation, by July.

With the new investor on board, Baywa re wants to expand its renewables business even further.

Renewable electricity will be linked to 90% of the actions needed to remove carbon emissions in 2050, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency, and the biggest volume of generation capacity will be provided by solar.

German tracker manufacturer Ideematec has adapted its Horizon L:TEC tracker for a series of agrivoltaic projects totaling 100 MW that will be developed in France by Spanish developer Amda Energía. The new tracker is claimed to be able to operate synergistically with the agricultural equipment.

Researchers in Spain have compiled a list of key performance indicators intended at evaluating not only the quality of a heat pump or a PV generator; but also the quality of their integration. pv magazine spoke to research co-author Celena Lorenzo about the potential and challenges of this combination. According to her, heat pumps powered by PV alone are efficient enough for both cooling and heating.

The new panel was conceived for applications in the rooftop segment. It features an efficiency of up to 20.5% and a power rating of 360/455 W. The Slovenian module manufacturer used 166×166 mm wafers for the new product, as it claims they currently provide the best power and size ratio.

Better Energy will connect 111 MW of solar generation capacity in Jutland to the grid this year after landing a power offtake agreement from Centrica.

Italian research agency ENEA is planning to build a €14 million ‘hydrogen valley’ in the province of Rome. pv magazine has spoken with its director of the department of energy technologies and renewable sources, Giorgio Graditi, and has found out that the project will also include the production of hydrogen from photovoltaics.