photovoltaic

The European Commission first set up the rules for energy sharing communities in 2018 and 2019, with Portugal rolling out its own legislation soon after. Despite these efforts, five years on there are only three energy sharing communities legally operating in the Mediterranean country, with hundreds more stuck in a year-long regulatory backlog, one local engineer tells pv magazine.

A global research group has compared static, customized dynamic, and dynamic-by-default energy allocations at a collective self-consumption project in France. They have found that dynamic customization performs better due to tax benefits.

European solar lobby groups have mostly welcomed the European Parliament’s recently supported EU Net-Zero Industry Act, which is aimed at strengthening the region’s renewables manufacturing sector. However, two groups are divided over a clause in the Act that limits tendered project’s from using technology partially made outside Europe.

A Swiss company has developed adhesive film that can be applied on solar panels to make them more aesthetically appealing. The film reduces electricity production by between 10% and 30%, but income from advertising could offset such losses.

Danish researchers investigated how solar-powered Carnot batteries could be integrated into decommissioned coal power plants to produce clean energy. They found that a 300 MW retrofitted plant coal plant with 1.37 GWh of thermal storage capacity has the potential for annual net power production of up to 1,150 GWh for 12 h storage at a levelized cost of energy of €88.09 ($95.97)/MWh.

A group of scientists in the United States has utilized a new passivation strategy based on sulfur-modified methylthio molecules to build an inverted perovskite solar cell with a certified efficiency of 25.1% and remarkable stability. The proposed passivation approach reportedly led to a five-fold increase in carrier lifetime and a three-fold reduction in photoluminescence quantum yield losses.

Falling PV module prices are set to enhance investment returns for the 45 GW of solar projects that have been awarded since fiscal 2021, with expectations for 16 GW of new capacity in the current fiscal year, says CRISIL Ratings.

Inion Software, a Lithuanian PV power plant equipment specialist, has unveiled a platform that combines model-based performance forecasting with plant monitoring functionality. It offers insights based not only on production data, but also weather data, along with site parameters and PV capacity information.

One of the project architects behind a solar power system in a southern Lebanese village tells pv magazine that the 200-panel array – which pumped water from an underground well for roughly 400 families – was allegedly destroyed earlier this month by Israeli forces. The community needs help rebuilding it, he says.

A pet food manufacturer with a 5.6 MW solar plant has secured the first capacity limitation contract in the Netherlands, ensuring compensation for electricity curtailment during peak hours.