Minigrids edging closer to profitability
The minigrid space continues to attract a lot of attention from development partners in Africa. Minigrids can actually generate profits, so there is no doubt that commercial finance players will eventually jump on the bandwagon, according to the Africa Solar Industry Association (AFSIA).
Solar curtailment vs. storage
Swiss researchers have looked at whether storage could be cheaper than curtailment in medium-voltage distribution networks with significant amounts of PV capacity. They considered storage costs, operational costs, grid constraints, electricity costs, PV generation models, and loads.
Solar-powered cooling solution for off-grid applications
Phaesun and Solar Cooling Engineering have developed a PV-powered cold room for small-scale farmers in Africa. The solution, which has been installed at a farm in Kenya, includes a 2.8 kW solar array and vapor compression heat pumps.
Iberdrola using dogs, robots to monitor solar plants
Iberdrola is using a springer spaniel in a solar park to smell electrical problems that could lead to power cuts. It is also using a robotic dog to detect and analyze faults in substations.
Kenya to combat rural energy access gap with over 130 solar minigrids
Kenya’s government plans to build 137 solar minigrids across remote locations in the East African country. The project received $150 million in funding from the World Bank.
Solar, storage system for water treatment in Malawi
RIC Energy has built a 1.3 MW PV array and a 4.5 MWh battery system for two water treatment plants and five water pumping stations in Malawi. The hybrid system will treat enough water to supply more than 200,000 people.
Sterlite Power commissions 5 GW green energy corridor project in India
Sterlite Power’s Lakadia-Vadodara transmission project will deliver more than 5 GW of electricity from the Indian state of Gujarat to the rest of the country.
Forecasting model to manage renewables-powered grids
Scientists in South Korea have developed a forecasting model to better manage electric grids with high penetration of intermittent renewables. The model was tested using historic data from Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) grid in the United States, and shown to accurately forecast the availability of renewable energy resources up to one day in advance.
Pumped hydro key to meeting storage demand
Pumped hydro energy storage can be readily scaled to any required storage capacity at a known and affordable cost.
Inverter sizing guides grid connection, rules US court
The US Court of Appeals has ruled that an 80 MW (AC)/160 MW (DC) solar farm, with 50 MW of battery storage, meets “Qualifying Facility” status of 80 MW (AC) or less under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) of 1978.
