Canada

A Canadian research team has developed a framework for local urban agriculture production, with the produce harvested distributed by electric vehicles powered by sidewalk-integrated photovoltaics. The PV-powered transportation system was calculated to have a payback time of 2.8 years.

A team of researchers in Canada has developed the Jericho Open Resistive Data Logger—an open-access photovoltaic (PV) monitoring platform that integrates data acquisition and processing hardware, a software framework, and a comprehensive sensor array. Designed primarily for agrivoltaic applications, the system has a total estimated cost of around $2,000.

Cache Power has commissioned an engineering study for a 640 MW compressed air energy storage and hydrogen project in Alberta, supported by provincial funding.

Germany’s Federal Court of Audit (Bundesrechnungshof) says the nation’s hydrogen strategy is falling short despite heavy subsidies, while Pulsenics and Endua have launched the first commercial AI-based monitoring system to improve electrolyzer performance under fluctuating renewable power conditions.

Canadian researchers investigated how the transparency of cadmium telluride and crystalline silicon solar panels affects lettuce growth in agrivoltaic systems. They found that 69%–transparent silicon panels increased lettuce yield by 3.6%, whereas cadmium telluride panels led to a reduction in yield.

Researchers in Canada have proposed using gravity-based energy storage in high-rise buildings, in combination with photovoltaic facades, small wind turbines, and lithium-ion batteries. Their modeling indicated that this hybrid system could achieve a levelized cost of energy ranging from $0.051/kWh to $0.111/kWh.

Researchers at Simon Fraser University in Canada have proposed protocols for standardized testing to avoid skewed results. The validated recommendations cover procedures for key measurements and the use of the indoor PV reference cell method.

Jetson said its new heat pump system has a coefficient of performance of up to 4.1 and an energy efficiency rating of up to 11.7. The new product integrates air quality sensors, an energy monitor, and a “smart” thermostat.

Canada is on track to deploy more solar in 2025 than it did in 2024, according to the Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA), with behind-the-meter installations having a particularly active year to date.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that fire and storm activity across North America shaped solar conditions during August, with irradiance down in central and eastern regions but above average in the northeast.