Residential PV

In a new monthly column for pv magazine, the International Solar Energy Society (ISES) reports that Brazil currently has more than 85% renewable electricity, mainly hydropower, but with rapidly growing shares of solar and wind power. With 2.3 million rooftop PV systems installed so far and more than 90 million consumer units still available to go solar, favourable energy policies and cheap PV are encouraging the fast uptake of solar in the country.

BloombergNEF says in a new report that developers deployed 444 GW of new PV capacity throughout the world in 2023. It says new installations could reach 574 GW this year, 627 GW in 2025, and 880 GW in 2030.

The Japanese electronics manufacturer said its new heat pumps are suitable for commercial, industrial, and multi-dwelling residential applications. The new products feature a rated power ranging from 50 kW to 80 kW and a coefficient of performance spanning from 3.2 to 3.4.

Slovenia recorded 400 MW of new PV installations in 2023, taking its total installed capacity to 1.1 GW, according to figures from the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy.

Sharp has developed vehicle-to-home (V2H) electric-vehicle chargers for PV-powered homes, featuring 6 kW of charging/discharging rated power and an input DC voltage of 340 V. The wall-mounted devices are suitable for indoor and outdoor environments.

A Dutch research team has outlined a new method to assess the coefficient of performance of air-to-water heat pumps by considering ambient temperature and relative humidity. The model is based on the equalization of the so-called logarithmic mean temperature difference (LMTD), which determines the temperature driving force for heat transfer in flow systems such as heat exchangers.

California Assembly member Laura Friedman has introduced a bill to require the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to consider the costs and benefits of rooftop solar and its non-energy benefits when designing net-metering rates.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that almost all of Europe experienced 10-25% more irradiance than the long term January average. Spain, in particular, experienced significant rainfall and slightly below average irradiance, while parts of Northern Europe enjoyed clear and sunny days for much of the month.

In its latest monthly column for pv magazine, the European Technology and Innovation Platform for Photovoltaics (ETIP PV) presents the main findings of a recent whitepaper it published on the nexus of the socio-economic and technological challenges of solar deployment.

The Renewable Energy Sources of Croatia says the country’s total installed solar capacity now stands at 462.5 MW. It says the country will come close to entering the “gigawatt club” by the start of 2025.