Asia

The French oil and gas giant—which is already a partner in Adani’s natural gas business—will now invest US$ 510 million to buy 50% stake in 2,148 MW operating solar plants owned by Adani Green Energy Limited.

A new paper published by researchers at China’s Tianjin University examines the state of the art in grid level energy storage, outlining the pros and cons of various battery technologies being deployed on grids around the world, and remaining challenges that could be overcome if research is pushed in the right direction.

Capacity additions for the current fiscal year are set to exceed the previous accounting period’s 8,532 MW. With $5.69 billion invested in clean energy in the last fiscal year, spending in the first nine months of 2019-20 has been estimated at $5.16 billion.

The Japanese electronics company has produced a solid-state, dye-sensitized solar cell for integration into sensors and consumer electronics. The company says the device can generate electricity from indoor light.

Analyst Johannes Bernreuter says most of China’s polysilicon production capacity is in regions away from the center of the coronavirus outbreak. He added, however, 27% of the nation’s 510,000-ton annual polysilicon capacity could be affected.

The postal operator, which is present in 12,000 locations nationwide, wants PV facilities to power its operations. Bidders have until February 20 to deliver on a call for expressions of interest and pre-qualify for the tender.

The coronavirus outbreak in China could raise solar module prices in the near term as manufacturers have already begun experiencing wafer and solar glass shortages. Production rates are also being affected by an extended new year holiday introduced by the authorities as a measure to deal with the virus, and the requirement workers from infected areas quarantine themselves for two weeks.

The ‘deep photovoltaic nowcasting’ project developed by Chile’s Institute of Engineering Sciences of the University of O’Higgins, Canada’s Laval University and Japan’s Kyoto University, seeks to make short-term, high-resolution projections of solar energy generation.

The government will reportedly be ready to tender contracts to install rooftop PV on its buildings across eight divisions of the nation in as little as three months’ time.

Japanese researchers have identified a perovskite material with a strong band edge gap and high stability which they say could offer 38.7% efficiency if used in the correct tandem cell architecture.