Residential PV

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that december brought striking contrasts in solar irradiance across Europe, with Northern Europe experiencing irradiance levels up to 30% below the already dim seasonal average, while regions south of Europe’s major mountain ranges saw irradiance up to 30% above typical levels.

Scientists have placed four PV panels in a 21-meter wind tunnel and run different tests regarding tilt angles, mounting height, spacing, and incoming flow direction. They found that when the spacing between panels exceeds twice the panel height, the mutual influence on dust deposition becomes negligible.

A group of scientists has developed an open-source dataset comprising three years’ worth of data from Hong Kong’s largest behind-the-meter rooftop solar power project. Power generation was collected at 5-minute intervals, and meteorological data at 1-minute.

Developed at the U. S. Ames National Laboratory, the novel magnetocaloric heat pump utilizes gadolinium as the working medium and reportedly matches current vapor-compression heat pumps for weight, cost, and performance. The system is based on a packed-particle bed active magnetic regenerator, a magnetic source composed of permanent magnets and high permeability magnetic steel.

Adani Green Energy commissioned 3.13 GW of renewable energy capacity – 2.69 GW of solar and 438 MW of wind power – in the April-December 2024 period, taking its cumulative operational capacity to 11.6 GW.

A new report from GridBeyond examines how regulations and solar resources drive prices in the United States.

Solar energy will satisfy more than 50% of global energy demand within a decade, according to a new modeling tool that also predicts solar costs will continue falling by 10% a year.

As the global solar energy industry grows, so does the need for accurate monitoring of performance and financial viability. The latest report by IEA PVPS Task 13, “Best Practice Guidelines for the Use of Economic and Technical KPIs,” provides a comprehensive framework to address this issue. This article explores the importance, methodologies, and applications of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), with a focus on their role in optimizing PV systems.

South Korea installed 2.5 GW of new solar capacity in 2024, bringing its cumulative PV capacity to more than 29.5 GW, according to the Korean Energy Agency.

Australia’s rooftop solar market finished 2024 on a high, with about 309 MW of monthly installations delivering one of the best December totals in recent years and putting the national trend back on the up.