Residential PV

The government of Canada announced it is now accepting applications for its Oil to Heat Pump Affordability Program. Eligible low-to-middle-income Canadian households currently heating their homes with oil can apply for an upfront payment of up to CAD 10,000 ($7,413) toward purchasing and installing a new, electric, air-source cold climate heat pump.

Brazilian developers have already installed at least 2.1 GW of distributed-generation solar and more than 1.3 GW of centralized PV this year. At this average pace of 21.1 MW per day, installers could build 7.71 GW of distributed-generation PV in 2023.

Finnish and German researchers have assessed the role of seasonal hydrogen storage for PV prosumer households with a “least-cost” model at a global level up to 2050. They have found that seasonal hydrogen storage can only be expected in a niche, off-grid market.

Finnish researchers have studied different scenarios to convert a Nordic oil-heated townhouse into a carbon-neutral building. They dimensioned an off-grid PV-powered heat pump system using waste heat recovery from a hydrogen storage system and calculated its life-cycle cost. They concluded that the solution is less profitable than grid-connected systems.

A new report from the association of Dutch grid operators predicts strong growth for the Dutch PV sector, regardless of potential international scenarios.

Romania-based startup Photovoltaic Windows has developed an off-grid domestic hot water system powered by cadmium telluride (CdTe) photovoltaic semi-transparent glasses. It claims a 0.7 kW pilot installation on an apartment balcony in Bucharest resulted in annual savings of €1,100 ($1,202).

Daikin has started building its first heat pump factory in Lodz, Poland. The Japanese heating manufacturer will invest €300 million ($327.2 million) in the new facility, which is expected to start operations in July 2024.

The South Korean government says its rebates for building-integrated PV (BIPV) systems have gone up from 13.4% to 15%, but its rebates for conventional rooftop PV systems have gone down from 50% to 47%.

Switzerland says it wants to reduce its incentives for small PV systems to encourage larger projects that use all available rooftop surfaces.

France-based Luciole & Basilic has developed a tracking system that can be manually oriented according to the zenith every 15 days. The startup recently introduced the first prototype and is now looking for distributors.