Reflective coating to reduce solar tile temperatures
Australian scientists have tested different reflective coatings in solar tiles and have found that they could improve the performance of building-integrated PV devices by up to 6.6%. They are currently working with building product manufacturers to bring their tech closer to commercial production.
DC rooftop PV providing domestic hot water to residential building at 60 C
Domestic hot water, with a heating system powered exclusively by DC solar power, has now covered the needs of an apartment building in Linz, Austria, for a period of a year. The 14 residential units are each connected to their own 1.36 KW solar arrays.
Ireland introduces planning exemptions for rooftop solar
Ireland’s new solar measures, first announced in June, are expected to facilitate deployment in the residential and commercial PV segments.
FuturaSun unveils 425 W n-type IBC solar module for rooftop applications
FuturaSun has revealed plans to expand its production capacity in China and its home market, Italy. Its new all-black solar panel features a power conversion efficiency of up to 21.60%.
Brazil hits 20 GW milestone
Brazil has deployed 6.52 GW of cumulative utility-scale solar and 13.57 GW of distributed-generation PV projects below 5 MW in size.
Pairing batteries with rooftop solar
A growing number of residential solar projects include energy storage batteries. In the first part of this series, we look at the backup power feature of batteries.
Portugal’s first solar energy community yields results
The first renewable energy community in Portugal was inaugurated in August 2021 in Miranda do Douro, a rural village in the north. One year on, pv magazine spoke with the company behind the project to assess its status. With a production capacity of 73.3 kWp, solar has saved the community €31,500 ($30,850) on electricity bills.
Storage could reshape solar market in MENA
Waleed AlHallaj, the head of business development for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at JinkoSolar, recently spoke to pv magazine about the prospects for the regional energy storage market. He said that storage systems have already penetrated markets with weak grids, such as Yemen and Lebanon.
New solar tiles from Germany
Creaton and Autarq have developed a modular solar tile for complex rooftops. The product is reportedly compatible with all common PV inverters.
Germany deployed 640 MW of PV in August
Germany’s newly installed PV capacity hit 4.8 GW in the first eight months of this year, from just 3.6 GW in the same period of 2021.
