A look at China’s PV poverty alleviation policy
A global research team says that China’s PV poverty alleviation scheme has ramped up disposable income levels in the country’s poorest counties. The Chinese government aims to install more than 10 GW of PV, especially in the most impoverished parts of eastern China, to help 2 million people by the end of this year.
Hydrogen storage in salt caverns
Researchers in Germany have identified salt caverns as a feasible and flexible solution for hydrogen storage. They also revealed that Europe has the potential to inject hydrogen in bedded salt deposits and salt domes, with a total storage capacity of 84.8 PWh.
Threat to US net metering
The Solar Energy Industries Association has urged the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to dismiss a petition to scrap net metering, solely on legal grounds. A filing by Solar United Neighbors, Vote Solar, and other groups makes a legal case and also rebuts the petition’s claims about net metering.
Colombia streamlines tax incentives for renewables
The procedures to secure income tax deductions, value-added tax exclusions, customs duty exemptions, and accelerated depreciation rates for renewable projects has been shortened to 45 days.
Cash-strapped developer SFCE dependent on buyer goodwill for $66m project sell-off
SFCE is scrambling to keep creditors at bay and has been unable to guarantee more than half the windfall it expects from selling off 140 MW of Chinese project capacity will actually be paid.
Another billion-dollar quarter for JinkoSolar
Despite the challenges to both the manufacturing and shipment of its products during the period, JinkoSolar today reported that it shipped 3.4 GW of modules in the first quarter of 2020, bringing its revenue for the quarter just over the billion dollar mark.
GoodWe unveils new string inverter series
According to the Chinese power electronics manufacturer, the series features a maximum input voltage of 1,100 V per string and efficiencies ranging from 98.6% to 99.0%.
A long way to go for iron pyrite solar cells
A paper from Sweden has attempted to uncover why the conversion efficiency of solar cells based on cheap, abundant iron pyrites continues to languish below 3% despite the apparent optoelectronic promise of the material.
Analyst expects ‘unprecedented’ consolidation of Chinese solar industry
PV manufacturers unable to live with proposed new quality guidelines and project developers alike are set to be squeezed out by the state in the world’s biggest solar market, according to Frank Haugwitz, who has compiled a market update as preparations for the next five-year plan gather pace.
CIGS solar cell with IBC structure and up to 19.7% efficiency
Scientists in the Netherlands have demonstrated an interdigitated back contact copper-indium-gallium-selenide solar cell with a sub-micron thickness of 673nm. The device has an aluminum oxide and magnesium fluoride-based anti-reflective coating.
