Bhutan launches ground-mounted PV tender
The national utility has kicked off a procurement round to build the country’s first major PV project.
Neoen secures PPA for part of Australian wind-solar-storage project
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has awarded a power purchase agreement in its fifth renewables reverse auction. The deal relates to a portion of a project consisting of 1.2 GW of wind, 600 MW of solar, and 900 MW/1,800 MWh of battery storage.
US interconnection queues loaded with solar, wind, storage
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has 75 GW of solar in its interconnection queue, but it remains to be seen how quickly clean energy can displace natural gas and coal.
Large-area organic PV module with 9.5% efficiency
Researchers in Taiwan have developed an organic PV module with an active area of 216 sq cm. The panel is said to have open circuit voltage of 10.6 V and short circuit current of 1.82 mA. It also features the highest efficiency reported for a panel of its kind which has an active area of more than 100cm2
Floating PV to offset underperforming hydropower
Brazil now has 12 GW of underperforming hydropower capacity, according to U.S. researchers. Large-scale floating PV is an ideal solution to offset this shortfall, due to its high capacity factor, load correlation, and high potential output during periods of high demand.
NREL’s PV cost projections plummet in new forecast
The lower projected costs for PV could help guide some utilities to plan for more PV capacity, as the utilities develop their long-term resource plans.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: GCL begins work on new polysilicon factory, GoodWe listed on Shanghai exchange
Polysilicon maker GCL-Poly has started construction of a factory with an annual production capacity of 54,000 MT as Chinese inverter manufacturer Goodwe launched an IPO on the Shanghai stock market.
Modular systems to produce perovskite-silicon cells on six-inch wafers
Researchers in Germany are scaling up efforts to bring perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell technology into industrial scale production. The scientists say manufacturing cells of that kind is possible on widely-available six-inch silicon wafers and modular systems are being designed to do so at scale.
Zimbabwe gold mine to be powered by PV
Caledonian Mining has revealed plans to build a $13 million solar plant at the Blanket gold mine in southern Zimbabwe. It raised funds for the project via a share sale.
NREL scientists encourage ‘optimal’ PV curtailment
Solar curtailment might become a valuable aspect of future PV deployment, particularly if grid operators start focusing on ‘curtailment management’ instead of ‘curtailment prevention.’ Management would include measures such as flexible generation, storage, load flexibility, and regional coordination.
