Vikram Solar to enter solid-state battery manufacturing
Indian PV manufacturer Vikram Solar says it plans to open a 1 GWh fully integrated solid-state cell and battery factory, expandable up to 5 GWh.
US solar facilities lost $5,720 per MW to equipment issues in 2024
US solar facilities lost $5,720 per megawatt in 2024, with global losses from equipment failures and extreme weather reaching $10 billion. Raptor Maps says 193 GW of projects recorded rising power losses, primarily from inverters, strings, and combiners, with regional weather risks varying significantly.
Sungrow unveils 5 kWh home battery system
Sungrow’s new residential battery energy storage system features a compact 182 mm design and is capable of handling a maximum charge/discharge current of 50 A.
World’s first battery storage system to provide full active and reactive power services comes online
Blackhillock in Scotland is not only Europe’s biggest operating battery storage project. It is also the first one to provide a special set of grid stabilization services, procured under the electricity system operator’s Pathfinder 2, while also generating revenues from other critical services.
Taslink plans deep-sea cable to connect Australia, New Zealand
New Zealand venture Taslink has announced plans to build a 2 GW to 3 GW capacity high-voltage cable linking Australia and New Zealand to facilitate the day-to-day trading of electricity between the two nations.
Key takeaways from Smart Energy Week 2025 in Tokyo
Smart Energy Week 2025 in Tokyo highlighted Japan’s shifting energy priorities, with officials promoting perovskite solar at PV Expo and companies showcasing solid-state battery tech at Battery Japan.
Quidnet Energy tests MWh-scale geomechanical energy storage
Quidnet Energy has demonstrated its long-duration geomechanical energy storage (GES) at the megawatt-hour scale. The tech stores excess grid electricity by pressurizing water underground, later releasing it to supply reliable power.
Strawberry fields forever, and with transparent PV
Scientists have grown strawberries under thin-film cadmium telluride panels with varying transparency. They found that 40% transparency maintained a greater than 80% yield of uncovered plants. If all strawberry farms in the world were converted to agrivoltaics, they would produce up to 173 TWh a year.
Could German PV energy communities participate in the balancing market?
The RWTH Aachen University has simulated 27 scenarios of energy communities participating in the balancing market in Germany and has found that the business model behind an energy community is only feasible if battery storage is available.
Midea Hiconics releases 30.6 kWh storage system for residential PV
The all-in-one single-phase system can take up to 3,750 W of PV input. It can be stacked with two to six batteries.
