Utility Scale PV

The software giant entered into two power purchase agreements for a total of 400 MW of solar energy from Texas solar plants.

Nikola, via the Hyla brand, produced 43 Class 8 Nikola hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles and wholesaled 40 of them in the first quarter of 2024, while Snam awarded Baker Hughes a contract to provide three hydrogen-ready gas turbine-driven compressor trains for a new gas compressor station in Italy.

Conceived by a group of scientists in Australia, the novel online tool can be modified for different regulatory environments. The program’s user interface asks for seven input files with a resolution of 30 minutes.

Fluvius, Belgium’s electricity grid operator, says it will compensate residential PV systems at €10.60 ($11.49) per kVa if they are not reconnected within 30 working days after a curtailment event.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that the solar regions of California, Nevada, Arizona and western Texas saw lower than normal irradiance in March, while high irradiance levels were recorded from the midwest to the Carolinas and across most of Mexico.

China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) and State Grid Corp. of China (SGCC) may ramp up PV curtailment to clear up space for new renewables projects that are struggling to obtain grid connections. Only up to 5% of PV output can currently be curtailed from solar plants, but the authorities are trying to decide whether to take a greater percentage of generation offline.

Poland added around 4.6 GW of new PV capacity in 2023, according to new data from research institute IEO.

The Indian government has allocated 1.5 GW of solar at $0.031/kWh. The winning developers will set up the projects on a build-own-operate basis and supply power under 25-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI).

The European authorities are trying to determine whether two consortia – including subsidiaries of Longi and Shanghai Electric – violated the new EU rules on foreign subsidies when they participated in a procurement process in Romania for a 110 MW solar farm. The European Commission is expected to make a final decision within 110 working days.

The European Commission has approved €1 billion ($1.08 billion) of Greek measures under EU state-aid rules to support two utility-scale solar projects with lithium-ion batteries and molten-salt thermal storage. The funds will take the form of a contract for difference (CfD) over a period of 20 years.