Japan

The London-based analyst has published a series of clean tech predictions for the year which also highlighted the rising proportion of sub-5MW solar projects in the global market, and cheaper clean energy financing costs even as panel prices continue to rise.

Japan’s PV sector remains the third largest in the world in terms of installed capacity, at some 78.5GW, making it one of the leading global PV marketplaces in the last decade. But as the world races to install more solar, it is one of the few markets in recent years that has charted a decline in new installs. An approach involving numerous government agencies is looking to restart the market, and not purely based on feed-in-tariffs (FITs), says Izumi Kaizuka, the director and principal analyst at RTS Corp.

In other news, Belgian company Tree Energy Solutions (TES) is accelerating plans to develop the German port of Wilhelmshaven into a “world-scale” hub for importing green gas, and German engineering company MAN Energy Solutions will invest up to €500 million in its hydrogen-focused subsidiary H-TEC Systems.

Sumitomo, Sunseap and Shikoku Electric are partnering to offer bilateral PPAs to big power consumers in Japan. The consortium will operate through a dedicated joint venture and will offer three different PPA options.

The Japanese manufacturer blames increasing wafer prices and logistics costs for its decision.

The Japanese government is proposing 20-year FITs lower than $0.010/kWh for rooftop PV and a ceiling price of $0.087/kWh for solar energy auctions. These incentive levels will likely be insufficient to stimulate demand given rising solar project costs.

Researchers in Japan have used heat-shrinkable polymers to laminate organic photovoltaics onto curved surfaces. The process improves efficiency while minimizing damage to photovoltaic components.

Itochu’s new 13.4kWh storage system is equipped with AI-based software for optimal battery control. It can be used for grid-connected and offgrid projects and has a charging feature for electric vehicles.

Mercedes-Benz has teamed up with ProLogium to integrate solid-state battery technology into a range of passenger vehicles; Panasonic and Toyota have launched an industrial-academic collaborative research program concerned with battery resources and recycling; and LG Energy Solution plans to spend $2.1 billion with General Motors to build another electric vehicle battery plant in the U.S.

The panel features 108 half-cells based on M10 wafers and a 10-busbar design. Its operating temperature coefficient is -0.341% per degree Celsius and its power tolerance reaches up to 5%.