Three solar farms in Australia reach financial close
Greek company Mytilineos has reached financial close on all three of its 40 MWp solar farms in New South Wales, marking an important milestone in the company’s strategic move into the Australian market.
US landfills could host more than 60 GW of solar
Landfill sited solar capacity would nearly double Biden administration goals to grow community solar while increasing total U.S. solar power capacity by about 58%.
Ireland cites need for 1.9 GW more solar this decade to stay on track for net zero
Although wind power dominates the renewables scene in the Republic of Ireland and the North – and even natural gas has a bigger role to play – the grid companies of the neighbors have revised up their estimates of how much solar will be needed, after talking to the public and industry.
Shingled solar modules and shading
Scientists at Germany’s Fraunhofer Insititute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) evaluated the performance of its newly introduced ‘Matrix’ approach to interconnecting shingled solar cells. The institute finds that, thanks to optimized current flows, energy yield of the Matrix approach could almost double that of standard shingled cell interconnection under random shading conditions.
Canadian Solar prepares to rein in production capacity expansion plans
While the Sino-Canadian business expects high polysilicon and shipping costs to be a temporary problem, CEO Shawn Qu has acknowledged the company will have overcapacity in cell and wafer production lines by the end of the year.
Novel solar cell architecture to reduce silver costs, improve voltage
Developed by a U.S.-based start-up, the new manufacturing process is claimed to reduce silver consumption and improve solar module performance by up to 3 W. It consists of connecting sub-cells in series within a single cell in order to increase the device voltage and without requiring cells to be physically broken and rewired.
A hybrid wind-solar-biogas sytem design including battery and thermal storage from PV modules’ excess heat
Tested in an off-grid location in India, the proposed approach includes the use of thermal storage from PV modules’ excess heat for space and water heating. The optimum configuration for the system was given by the combination of a 224 kW PV system equipped with a phase change material, a 206 kW wind turbine, a 420 kW biogas generator, a 633 Ah battery, and a 170 kW converter.
Malawi’s first grid scale solar project will shortly be followed by a second
The 20 MW Golomoti PV project will include 10 MWh of lithium-ion battery storage in a first for the sub-Saharan African market, according to its London-based joint developer.
‘Africa should harness green hydrogen, not just export it’
Instead of using its abundant cheap renewable energy potential to generate the gas simply to feed the appetite of industrial consumers in Europe and elsewhere, Africa could attract the heavy manufacturing sectors concerned, such as steelmakers, to its shores, the African Energy Week event heard.
Looking past PERC solar cells
While the adoption of large-format wafers has driven a wave of capacity expansion for PERC, existing manufacturers and new entrants continue to evaluate TOPCon and HJT. An increasing number of HJT pilot lines and gigawatt-scale capacity expansion projects are appearing, as manufacturers see the advantages of fewer process steps, higher efficiency ratings, and better yield rates. The localization of equipment is also a driving factor. PV InfoLink’s Derek Zhao offers an update on the latest developments and process routes for HJT.
