Canada

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) have approved the new UL 3741 standard.

Scientists in Canada have created a greenhouse that is exclusively heated by solar panels. The rooftop PV system is not connected to the grid, but is linked to four batteries with a total capacity of 5.56 kWh.

The Ontario-based solar company will pay US$13 million to settle a class action filed in August 2010, after the Ontario Superior Court approved the offer.

The solar manufacturer’s impressive third-quarter gross margin is set to fall back in the current three-month window because global shortages have seen some material costs double since the world came out of Covid-19 shock.

A new study has assessed the geological feasibility of large-scale seasonal underground hydrogen storage in Canada and has found that the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin and southern Ontario are the most suitable areas for the technology.

Scientists led by the University of Ontario modeled the performance of bifacial modules in floating PV applications, finding that in a north/south orientation at a 30 degree angle, the modules could receive as much as 55% more sunlight than a monofacial module in the same setup.

New cadmium telluride solar panels are now available for applications on tall buildings in urban environments. Their efficiency ranges from 15.3% to 18.2%, with 110 W to 450 W of power output.

The quiet prairie landscape of Vulcan County, a rural stretch of southern Alberta, is set to become the site of Canada’s largest solar energy facility – the 400 MW Travers Solar Project. And with the region’s oil industry struggling with low demand and lower prices, solar could provide a lifeline to Alberta in meeting energy demand and providing jobs.

More than 1 GW of subsidized small solar arrays were installed in China last month alone and manufacturer Suntech has announced the start of operations at its 500 MW Indonesian cell and module fab.

Californian solar module manufacturer Solaria Corporation has asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to issue an exclusion order to prevent the sale in the United States of Canadian Solar shingled solar modules it claims infringe its patents.