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Off-grid solar

Solar mini-grid to protect Austrian highway from blackouts

The Austrian motorway company Asfinag is planning to power, with solar-plus-storage, all its maintenance facilities. These installations are planned to power the stations at night and in the event of a grid failure.

Geo-referenced approach to identify communities that can afford PV mini-grids

The novel methodology can be used for 71 countries located across ‘sun belt’ areas of east Asia, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. The model relies on 2014 and 2015 geo-referenced datasets in various formats and spatial resolutions, as well as on a population dataset based on global human settlements (GHSL) and World Bank national-level estimates of electrification.

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LCOE of off-grid solar-plus-storage in Russia’s remote areas ranges between $0.19 and $0.29/kWh

Off-grid PV has become a much more viable solution than diesel power generators to bring electricity to Russia’s remotest regions. Furthermore, solar-plus-storage is able to deliver with no interruption 24 hours per day and seven days per week, while fuel availability means diesel power can only ensure between four and seven hours per day.

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New approach to automating peer-to-peer renewables distribution

Sony lab and LF Energy are developing a new approach to enable peer-to-peer microgrid energy trading, so remote communities can store and distribute energy without connecting to large-scale power stations or distribution grids.

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High-level photovoltaics

The expedition to Manaslu Peak (8,163m) in Nepal, led by Alex Txikon, will not consume a single liter of fossil fuels thanks to two portable photovoltaic installations. The initiative is being promoted by Eki, a foundation created by Spanish solar company Solarpack and supported by the Basque Energy Agency (EVE).

Kenya launches tender to add solar to 22 diesel mini-grids

Kenyan utility KPLC wants to retrofit 23 diesel mini-grids by adding wind and solar power generators. PV is the only option available for 21 of the selected sites.

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Batteries and hydrogen to make residential off-grid PV technically feasible

Researchers in Finland have demonstrated the technical feasibility of an off-grid residential PV system combined with short-term battery storage and seasonal hydrogen storage. The proposed model is applicable only to northern climates, as higher levels of solar radiation in southern locations would mean a reduced need for seasonal storage. It was tested in an existing single-family house in Finland with a 21 kW rooftop array and a ground source 6 kW heat pump.

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Self-cleaning tech for small off-grid PV arrays

A U.S.-Pakistan research group has created a new self-cleaning mechanism for standalone PV systems up to 5 kW in size. The system increases power yields by around 35%, while its payback period is estimated at around five years.

The best renewables combination for off-grid power supply

Scientists in India have proposed a model to design an off-grid, hybrid energy system based on a combination of solar, wind, biomass, biogas and fuel cell, linked to storage, for electrifying a cluster of three village hamlets in the Indian state of Karnataka. The model is implemented through the HOMER software and a genetic algorithm.

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Pension funds and corporates could save the world

The second edition of the clean energy investment report produced by IRENA says the industry needs to unlock the $87 trillion being sat on by the world’s biggest investment houses – ‘greening’ the $100 trillion global bond market would help too.

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