Brazil bets big on batteries
Energy storage in Brazil is entering a period of accelerated growth. Despite the lack of a legal framework for project operations, companies are moving to expand domestic battery production, diversify business models, and ensure that energy storage is ready to play a central role in the country’s energy transition.
Chile moves on storage to ‘decarbonize the night’
Chile has emerged as a world leader in hybrid systems and standalone energy storage since implementing its Renewable Energy Storage and Electromobility Act in 2022. Ensuring projects are paid for injecting power into the grid during peak periods has supported growth, and ambitious battery energy storage system (BESS) targets are now being pursued to tackle curtailment.
Questions remain in wake of Iberian blackout report
The entire Iberian Peninsula experienced a power cut in April, with outages lasting up to 24 hours, as a combination of factors pushed Spain’s grid past the point of no return. The first report on the incident, published in June by a government-appointed committee, said a series of power surges led to a chain reaction of disconnections. Recriminations continue between stakeholders as the investigation proceeds and Spain accelerates plans to reinforce its grid.
From niche to norm
It is now possible to deploy PV on buildings, roadsides, farms, mobile structures, lakes, and even vehicles. This should, in theory, make it the obvious answer to decarbonizing urban environments, ensuring that societies can produce their own clean energy affordably. So, why is integrated PV still a relatively niche market? In this series, pv magazine showcases some of the most exciting current research and development trends in integrated PV.
Building for the future
Scores of scientific papers have been written on new ways to integrate PV with buildings, but widespread adoption is yet to materialize. However, higher building efficiency standards will soon be in force in many markets, providing new impetus to get integration right. Leading researchers share their thoughts on building-integrated PV (BIPV).
Solar in technicolor
Colored building-integrated PV (BIPV) modules can turn building facades into art, with companies like Kameleon Solar, FuturaSun, and Onyx leading the way in module and glass design. However, Büsra Yilmaz Depondt, chief technology officer at Kameleon Solar, says developers who focus solely on aesthetics tend to neglect crucial areas like efficiency and safety.
Bridging the knowledge gap
Education, more so than regulation and subsidies, is the answer to deploying more building-integrated PV (BIPV) projects across Europe. That’s the view of Dieter Moor, founder of engineering consultancy Arconsol. The company aims to convince estate agents, architects, local authorities and the construction sector that BIPV is a long-term investment and not to be compared with standard PV prices.
Putting carports on wheels
Innovation doesn’t always have to mean “deep tech” and new materials. In the United States, Gismo Power is working on a portable, plug-in approach to reduce the cost of PV carports and has found that regulation is its biggest obstacle. pv magazine spoke with Gismo Power CEO Antonia Ginsberg-Klemmt about its approach and market potential.
Drive to survive
In 2023, Dutch vehicle-integrated PV (VIPV) startup Lightyear went bankrupt after attempting to commercialize its solar car, the Lightyear 0. While mass production of solar cars is a long way off, Lightyear has resurrected itself under the leadership of Bonna Newman. The CEO tells pv magazine about the startup’s strategic gear switch to on-board solar charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs).
‘There are so many policy nuances that are still not figured out’
With land for new solar projects in short supply across many global regions, integrating solar into active farmland is an increasingly accepted alternative. But the right approach is needed to benefit both applications. Renewable energy technology and advisory company 3E is participating in two pilot projects for agrivoltaics with very different aims and scopes, as pv magazine heard from the company’s head of innovation, Gofran Chowdhury.
