Chinese PV Industry Brief: New 10 GW module factory planned as 3.6 GW of cell capacity comes online
Power company Datang Group is reportedly planning to spend around $148 million replacing a coal-fired power plant with a 200 MW solar project in Shanxi province and two solar players are set to issue stock.
How long will the lithium supply last?
Researchers have sounded the alarm. If no serious efforts are made on second-life battery use, recycling and vehicle-to-grid applications, decarbonization efforts may hit the buffers a lot sooner than expected.
Gujarat opens 210 MW solar tender
Developers now have until September 23 to lodge bids for an earlier, 110 MW procurement round and can also toss their hat into the ring for a new tender in the district of Jamnagar which closes on October 5.
Mounting structures for floating PV from Spain
Spanish engineer Isigenere has developed floating PV mounting structures based on virgin high-density polyethylene and says the manufacturing process, which features plastic injection, can produce around 1 MW of the product every five days.
Active cooling for PV modules in floating arrays
Saudi Arabian and Pakistani scientists have created a serpentine cooling block structure to improve the efficiency of PV panels in floating solar projects by around 1.5%. The cooling block can be filled via a low-cost, 15.6 W commercial 12 V DC water pump with cool water.
Photovoltaic shade for greenhouses
French start-up Solar Cloth has secured a patent for a PV shade screen for solar greenhouses.
Divisions emerge ahead of EU Climate Law and Just Transition bill reading
The weeks ahead could prove decisive for the bloc’s decarbonization ambitions as the European Parliament prepares for several votes and legislative proposals from the commission. The European Climate Law and the Just Transition Fund are critical parts of the European Green Deal but remain points of contention at Brussels.
EU Green Recovery plan could support 2.3 GW of Spanish solar project capacity
Three big projects are candidates for support from the Covid recovery plan laid out by the bloc.
Bigger and better: Technology
The SNEC 2020 PV Power Expo opened on Aug. 8 in Shanghai. Unlike previous editions, the world’s largest solar trade fair was mostly attended by Chinese participants this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While the trade fair used to offer insights into global market trends, volumes were low this year due to a buyer/seller standoff amid rising prices caused by the recent accidents at polysilicon plants in Xinjiang. Also, there was little change in technologies. PV InfoLink’s Corrine Lin offers insights into cells and modules at SNEC 2020.
Keeping PV panels honest
Michelle McCann and Lawrence McIntosh, the partners behind the PV Lab panel-testing facility in Canberra, see Australia’s solar installations as a vast, aggregated virtual power plant.
