North America

Tennessee-based Shoals Technologies has balance-of-systems solutions deployed on more than 20 GW of solar energy systems throughout the world.

The EV manufacturer with big solar ambitions has finally leveraged its expertise in power electronics technology and launched a solar inverter.

French energy giant Total called the 50:50 joint venture a “first significant step” into the U.S. utility-scale solar market.

Global management consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has issued a general economic prediction for 2021. Aside from some general notes on GDP recovery post-Covid, the analysts’ notes were heavily focussed on climate and energy finance and policy.

International researchers have developed a silicon heterojunction PV cell with textured surfaces to accommodate the perovskite top cell. They optimized the rear transparent electrode to collect as much albedo as possible and achieved five different perovskite bandgaps by altering the iodide-to-bromide ratio in the perovskites, resulting in a higher open-circuit voltage.

For the first time since LevelTen Energy began tracking the U.S. market, solar power purchase agreement offer prices rose in 2020, with fourth-quarter prices 11.5% higher than a year earlier.

The European Commission has finalized its long-anticipated investment agreement with China. While some renewable energy businesses might benefit from improved investment security, IP protection and access to legal remedies in China, the Commission did not address the issue of Uyghur forced labor in China. As a majority block in the European Parliament had previously demanded from the Commisison to develop a firm policy to end forced labor in China, there is reason for doubt that the agreement as it stands will be adopted by the EU Parliament.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) and Oneida Energy Storage LP, a joint venture between NRStor and Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corp., have signed a memorandum of understanding for the Oneida Energy Storage project in Ontario.

Scientists in the United States developed a new anode for aqueous batteries. A working battery utilizing this anode, with seawater as an electrolyte, demonstrated impressive energy density, and remained stable after 1,000 hours of high current cycling. The group is already discussing the potential of their approach in large-scale manufacturing.

Proxy generation power purchase agreements, which were first used with wind projects, manage weather-related risks by settling energy transfers based on a proxy generation index, rather than on actual metered generation. Operational risk shifts from buyer to seller.