Tesla sharpens focus on solar
In an earnings call this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk boldly claimed that the company will soon be “the market leader in solar.”
EDF acquires US solar installer
EDF Renewables North America said that its latest investment capitalizes on the growth of the commercial and industrial solar market.
Boeing brings more PV power to NASA International Space Station
Six new arrays with a combined capacity of 120 kW will be installed on the International Space Station starting from this year. The panels will be brought to the station with the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft during three resupply missions. The installation of each solar array will require two spacewalks.
Satellite-derived datasets to measure ground albedo for bifacial PV
A researcher from the NREL has set up a series of datasets of measured ground albedo values using measurement network data in the U.S. and data contributed by the PV industry. The measured albedo datasets are intended to help developers of ground-mounted PV projects in making a choice between monofacial and bifacial panels.
Corporate renewables purchases hit record 23.7 GW in 2020
The growth of the global renewables sector in 2020, despite the negative impact of the pandemic, underscores how companies are prioritizing sustainability, BloombergNEF says in a new report.
Storing oversized large scale PV with molten salt storage
Scientists from Israel and France have proposed a PV-plus-thermal-storage (PV-TS) concept that may be applied in regions with low direct solar beam radiation and high levels of global solar radiation. They estimated that the grid penetration rate of a large scale PV plant, when combined with molten salt storage, may rise from around 30% to up to 95%.
Former landfill to become largest US urban solar project
Developers will build the 50 MW Sunnyside solar project on a former landfill site just outside of downtown Houston.
First Solar sells 10 GW solar pipeline for $261 million
The deal includes the Rabbitbrush, Madison, Oak Trail, Horizon, and Ridgely projects, which are expected to start construction in the United States in the next two years, and the 30 MW Barilla Solar project, which is operational.
Big data meets big brother — Expectations from modern solar monitoring systems
Big data and artificial intelligence have a place in the solar industry – and that is in the maintenance sector. The inanimate nature of PV modules easily tricks one into thinking that all that needs taking care of is the owner sitting back and watching how the sun shines onto the array generating electricity and cash. Reality is much more complicated. This is why solar monitoring systems are continually evolving, much like the components they are designed to check. Our webinar partner and monitoring system provider, Solare Datensysteme – Solar-log, has concluded a process in which the company jointly developed the latest product iteration, with a selection of its customers.
CPV module with triple-junction cells and double-bonded copper carriers
Université de Sherbrooke researchers have tested a new concentrator PV module for potential applications in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems in commercial buildings.
