Asia

Rooftop and ground-mounted solar deployment is reportedly slowing down in Bangladesh due to rising prices of panels, inverters, and other PV system components.

Indian scientists have developed a system under which a pumped-hydro facility stores grid electricity during off-peak hours by pumping water to an upper reservoir. During peak hours, the system feeds the load, rather than taking power from the grid.

Meanwhile, Trina Solar has established a new branch for upstream operations and Longi has a officially changed its company name.

With the addition of a 150 MWh-a-year plant in Maharashtra, JLNPhenix Energy has expanded its lithium battery manufacturing capacity in India to 550 MWh annually.

All the products rely on the company’s 210 rectangular silicon wafer (G12R) cell technology. The manufacturer claims these new products can increase the installed capacity of residential roofs by 5-7%. The largest panel is a 21.5%-efficient device with a power output of up to 580 W and the smallest features an efficiency of up to 21.3% and a nominal power of up to 425 W.

The lithium iron phosphate battery is sold with a storage capacity ranging between 7.1 kWh and 21.31 kWh, a voltage of 192 V to 576 V, and a nominal capacity of 37 Ah.

India-based Hygenco has set up a green hydrogen generation plant on a build-own-operate basis in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The alkaline electrolysis-based plant is co-located with a solar project.

Korea Zinc – the world’s largest producer of zinc, lead and silver – has revealed that its Australian renewables unit, Ark Energy, has acquired utility-scale solar developer Epuron Holdings, after obtaining regulatory approvals earlier this week.

Hanwha Q Cells plans to build a 1.4 GW solar panel factory at an undisclosed location in the United States. It has also announced plans to expand its cell capacity to 5.4 GW in South Korea. CEO Justin Lee spoke to reporters at the Smarter E event about the company’s plans and current supply chain issues.

The World Bank has advised the Pakistani government to make an immediate start on solar and wind auctions based on big, dual technology clean power parks, plus smaller tenders likely to be dominated by PV.