Sustainability

French solar developer TSE, in association with Alliance BFC, has unveiled the initial results of a pilot study in France on how solar panels can affect soybean growth.

Buoyant predictions about a rosy future for African photovoltaics, based on the continent’s abundant solar resources, continue to overlook the difficulties of securing investment, as Empower New Energy co-founder and CEO Terje Osmundsen explains, referring to a report published by the Africa Solar Industry Association at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi today.

The opening ceremony of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2023 was not short of inspirational rhetoric, but the winners of the Zayed Sustainability Prize provided some real-world examples of what action on the local level really looks like.

French research institute CEA-INES has produced a 566 W heterojunction (HJT) demonstrator PV panel using Norwegian silicon wafers based on German polysilicon and solar cells made in France. The prototype has a carbon footprint of 317 kgCO2eq/kW, which is considerably lower than the maximum 800 kgCO2eq/kW standard for Chinese products.

The United Arab Emirates is treating Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, which includes the World Future Energy Summit, as a trial run before the nation hosts the COP28 climate talks in November.

German renewables developer BayWa r.e. has finished building four new pilot agrivoltaic projects in the Netherlands, Austria, and Germany. They combine solar with fruit cultivation.

The photovoltaic industry is expected to achieve annual global expansion of 300 GW as early as this year. That sounds like a lot, but is it enough? In view of climate change and rising energy demand, it is time for a new vision.

Berlin-based Boreal Light has developed water desalination tech powered by PV for off-grid applications. The solution uses 460 W solar panels from Chinese module manufacturer DAH Solar and produces clean water from direct seawater at a cost of €0.50 ($0.54)/m3.

The European Union has set ambitious targets for solar PV expansion but is Brussels designing the right policies to support growth? Andreas Walstad investigates.

The Guyana Utility Scale Solar Photovoltaic (GUYSOL) Programme will help Guyana to achieve the mission set out in its Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030, by reducing the amount that the government needs to spend on electricity subsidies.