Solar for self-consumption keeps growing in Spain
Around 569 MW of new PV systems were installed last year under the country’s rules for self-consumption. Around 56% of this capacity was deployed in the industrial segment, while commercial installations had a 23% share.
EIB finance for Burkina Faso solar plant
The European Investment Bank will lend more than half the cost of expanding the first solar project built by the West African nation’s electric utility, from 37 MW to 50 MW.
Winners, prices of Spain’s latest renewables auction
A number of companies spoke to pv magazine this week about the results of Spain’s latest clean-energy auction.
European Commission approves further €2.9bn battery research project
Companies from a dozen EU member states will commit the public funds in a bid to come up with novel battery chemistries and production methods as well as recycling and circular economy innovation.
Australian storage pricing could ‘cannibalize’ itself with latest big battery announcements
In November, Cornwall Insight estimated that Australia had 7 GW of battery storage projects in the pipeline. Since then, massive amounts of storage capacity have been added.
Spanish renewables auction secures lowest price of €0.01498/kWh
The Spanish authorities awarded about 2.04 GW of PV and 998 MW of wind capacity, out of a total allocation of approximately 3.03 GW. The average price for solar was €0.02447/kWh.
Jenny Chase predicts up to 194 GW of solar this year
Falling module prices will help PV post another record year after an estimated 132 GW was installed worldwide in 2020, according to an energy transition investment trends report published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
The best redox flow battery tech
Batteries based on vanadium or zinc bromide represent the cutting edge of redox flow storage tech, an international research team has claimed. They have identified challenges and opportunities for about a dozen redox flow storage technologies, while providing estimates of their current and projected levelized costs of storage.
Measuring outdoor performance in perovskites
Scientists in Spain and Colombia took a closer look at the degradation mechanisms affecting perovskite solar cells, and developed a new, high throughput method to characterize their performance in an outdoor setting. The group evaluated the method through outdoor testing on perovskite modules manufactured in a lab. it expects its findings to offer easier device characterization and better understanding of the degradation mechanisms affecting perovskite solar cells, both important factors in the technology’s development.
EU records annual rise of 7 TWh in third-quarter solar output
European renewables, including Spanish solar, made big gains as energy demand recovered before the second wave of Covid infections. Nuclear was a notable loser, in part because clean energy volumes in the north of the continent drove down power prices sufficiently to make reactors uncompetitive.
