France may reach between 70 and 208 GW of PV by 2050
French grid operator RTE has outlined six scenarios on how France’s energy system may achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. In the most optimistic one, solar is expected to reach a cumulative capacity of 208 GW.
New process to recycle silicon, silver and glass from end-of-life PV panels
A €4.8 million EU-funded research project is aiming to develop a process that allows recovering all components of a photovoltaic module.
French PV companies set up agrivoltaics association
Sun’Agri, REM Tec, Kilowattsol and Altergie Développement et Râcines have announced the creation of France Agrivoltaisme, the world’s first association for the promotion of agrivoltaics.
Netherlands allocates 3.53 GW of PV
The fall 2020 round of the Dutch SDE++ program awarded 75 MW of heat pumps and 310 MW of electric boilers to developers. About €2.12 billion of state funds will also be used to support a CO2 capture project that an international consortium is building in Rotterdam.
Universal electricity access by 2030 remains a distant dream
Energy efficiency, electrification of heating and transport, and the provision of clean cooking facilities are all going in the wrong direction as the Covid crisis deprived millions in sub-Saharan Africa of electricity use, according to a report by the IEA, IRENA, WHO, World Bank and UN Statistics Division.
Perovskite solar panel with 16.1% efficiency via ambient air blade-coating
The panel, fabricated by scientists in Italy, is composed of five series-connected cells, each with an area of 2.01 cm² and has an aperture area of 11 cm². It showed a power conversion efficiency of 16.1%, an open-circuit voltage of 5.59 V, a short-circuit current of 37 mA, and a fill factor of 72.5%.
Solarwatt, BMW launch new storage system for residential PV
The smallest of the storage units has a capacity of 4.8 kWh and an output of 1.5 kW. It can be expanded to eight battery modules in steps of 2.4 kWh and has a maximum of 57.6 kWh, and 6 kW, of power.
New walkways for the installation of rooftop PV systems
Spanish mounting system provider Alusín Solar has developed a solution to enable the transit of installers on roofs. It has recently commissioned a production line for this product, which it dubbed Carex.
Madrid taxis to be powered by solar hydrogen
Spanish developer FRV has agreed to participate in a €100 million effort to generate hydrogen via a 10 MW electrolyzer, powered by a 20 MW solar plant.
Solar module cooling technique based on multiple phase-change materials
Academics have utilized three PCMs, known as RT26, RT35, and RT42, and decided to pack them ascendingly depending on their melting points and heat-flow direction. The system is claimed to allow lower melting rates and longer thermal management of the modules.
