Residential PV

Spain’s cumulative PV capacity under its self-consumption regime hit 5.24 GW at the end of December.

Hanwha Q Cells has launched the latest generation of its Q.MAXX solar panel series for the Australian residential market. It says the power class has been increased by up to 15 Wp from previous iterations.

pv magazine Australia’s Natalie Filatoff reports on the benefits of planning vast solar project pipelines, and the barriers faced by those who dare to dream big.

Bisol’s new products feature a temperature coefficient of -0.34% per degree Celsius and a power rating of 400 W to 420 W. The Slovenian PV module manufacturer said it used M10 wafers for the first time.

The Romanian parliament adopted a reduction from 19% to 5% on value-added tax (VAT) on PV panels for use in residential homes and public buildings.

Esysunhome (ESYSH), a new energy storage company in China, has developed a 5.12 kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery system with a 7.9 kW inverter. It says six modules can be combined for up to 30.72 kWh of energy storage capacity.

Rodrigo Lopes Sauaia, the CEO of the Brazilian Association of Photovoltaic Solar Energy (ABSolar), speaks to pv magazine about why Brazil is poised to install a record-breaking 10.1 GW of new capacity in 2023. He says both distributed-generation and utility-scale PV projects will contribute to “the best year of solar so far.”

China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) says the country installed 87.41 GW of new PV capacity in 2022.

The future outlook for copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar cells is bright, due to recent R&D achievements and efficiency gains, according to Ayodhya Tiwari, head of laboratory at Switzerland’s Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA). CIGS has already shown its value in building-integrated PV applications, but as production volumes increase in the years ahead, ground-mount plants and big utility-scale installations could also become feasible, says Tiwari.

Switzerland has announced a new one-off incentive model for solar, in order to reimburse up to 60% of investment costs for installations that meet certain criteria. The scheme exists in addition to nonrecurring remunerations for small and large PV installations.