Construction begins on 30 MW solar park in Burkina Faso
The solar park is being built by French developer GreenYellow and is expected to come online by mid-2021.
Outdoor storage system based on lithium titanate oxide cells
Bluesky Energy has unveiled a storage system based on lithium titanate oxide cells. The new product is claimed to have a service life of 20,000 cycles and to cope well with extreme climatic conditions.
EBRD backs green bond issued by Polish utility
The London-based lender has committed more than €50 million to the €218 million exercise which will cost issuer Tauron more to finance if the utility falls short of its 2030 decarbonization targets.
IRENA: Urban renewables infrastructure needs to be concentrated in fastest-growing cities
Only 1% of Africa’s utility scale solar projects are within 20km of city limits, according to a new report, despite the fact the continent is expected to have around a billion more city dwellers by mid century.
Solaredge sees slight profit growth in Q3
Despite a significant drop in turnover, the Israeli inverter maker was able to increase its net result in the third quarter of this year, in which it shipped around 1,415 MW of its products. In the first nine months of the year, the company’s revenue increased year-on-year from $1 billion to $1.1 billion.
Portugal to host 257 MW solar-plus-storage plant
Located in Evora, southern Portugal, the solar park is being planned by a Spanish-Portuguese consortium. The plant will be linked to a 10 MW storage system.
Reform meets opposition
Since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s election at the end of 2018, renewable energy in Mexico has faced an uncertain regulatory environment. The current government is focused on restoring the power and influence of Mexico’s state-owned energy companies. But it is now at a crossroads, as the previous administration aimed to open the segment up to foreign investment. Maria Chea of IHS Markit examines the policy decisions the government has taken this year and how these have soured private investor sentiment. These changes will likely weigh on utility-scale PV procurement in the country through 2024.
Solar-powered cooling system for crop storage
South African scientists have used a PV system to keep tomatoes in cold storage. They linked an air-cooling system and evaporative cooling tech to a 3.5 kW array and 12 batteries and tested it for 28 days in September.
Australia’s largest chicken farm switches on solar+storage system
Australia’s largest free-range chicken farm switched on a big solar+storage system this week, with 1.4 MW of rooftop solar and 2.28 MWh of energy storage, via five Tesla lithium-ion batteries.
Hybrid salp swarm algorithm for MPPT optimization
Indian researchers have created a hybrid salp swarm algorithm to optimize MPPT tracking in PV systems under partial shading conditions. It is based on the swarming behavior of salps in the ocean.
