Markets

Solarcentury Africa’s 20 MW merchant solar project in northeastern Namibia has reached financial close. Once complete, the project will sell all its power on the South African Power Pool.

Replacing existing transmission lines, known as conductors, with advanced conductors could enable 764 GW of transmission-connected solar by 2035. However, some US utilities are slow to adopt this technology. In a recent webinar, two utilities that have used advanced conductors for years shared their experiences.

Surge in battery storage installations shown in installer data from UK accreditation body MCS. While 2024 is comfortably the best year on record, MCS Head of Scheme Alex Hughes tells ESS News she would like to see even more solar installers take on a storage accreditation.

Now that incentives from the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are well understood, global manufacturers are announcing factories in the United States to constitute much of the solar supply chain. While some plans have been scrapped already, and more cancellations are expected, the broader trend is unprecedented growth.

Following Ireland’s most recent renewables auction finalized in late September, the average final price for PV was €0.10476 ($0.12)/kWh, which just a 4% decrease compared to 2023’s auction. pv magazine has spoken with the government, the local PV association and several market operators to understand the reasons behind final high prices.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) are funding a 99 MW solar project in southwestern Croatia with a total investment of €62 million ($67.2 million). Construction will begin next year, and commissioning is set for 2026.

A group of researchers have investigated the influence of the regulatory framework on supporting the expansion of ground-mounted PV plants close to transport routes as railways, highway and federal roads in Germany. Their analysis showed that most of the PV systems installed next to these routes are located on what was once agricultural land.

SunBrush Mobil GmbH plans to develop a mechanically simple robotic solution designed to maximize utility-scale solar module yield by removing soiling. Once complete, the company will market this technology for commercial rooftop systems in Australia.

The startup is developing LDES technology that, housed in a 40-foot container, would have an estimated power of 100 kW and a capacity of about 100 hours with a useful life of more than 30 years and an LCOE of less than $0.05/kWh in its early stages of industrialization.

Arctech Solar says it plans to raise up to CNY 1.1 billion ($150 million) to expand its manufacturing capacity, while China Power Construction has opened bids for 1,500 MWp of n-type heterojunction PV modules.