photovoltaics

The Italian Council of State has issued new rules to address a number of regulatory gaps, according to lawyer Andrea Sticchi Damiani, who recently won two cases related to agrivoltaic projects. In both instances, the council confirmed that agrivoltaic facilities are distinct from conventional ground-mounted PV plants.

A group of researchers from the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory assessed the potential for floating PV (FPV) plants at reservoirs and natural waterbodies in 10 Southeast Asian countries. It found that the overall FPV technical potential for the region ranges from 477 GW to 1,046 GW.

A US-Mexican research team has investigated how linking heat pumps with solar thermal collectors may help reduce the surface needed to deploy the collectors themselves. The scientists found the proposed solution may not only significantly reduce the footprint of solar thermal systems but also provide a lower levelized cost of energy compared to fossil fuels.

Amsterdam has now installed more than 1 million solar panels, with the Dutch capital currently boasting 250 MW of rooftop PV capacity across 120,000 households. The municipal government aims to equip around 500,000 home with PV systems by 2040.

Panasonic is now testing perovskite-based power-generating glass with Japanese property developer Mitsui Fudosan Residential at a new building in Kanagawa prefecture, Japan.

An Algerian research group has analyzed the electronic, elastic, optical, and thermoelectric characteristics of the KGeCl3 perovskite to verify if this lead-free material may be used for solar cells and other electronic devices. The scientists found that the novel material has a direct bandgap semiconductor with bandgap energies of 0.92 eV, 1.26 eV, and 1.88 eV for cubic, tetragonal, and orthorhombic phases, respectively.

Uniper plans to power a green hydrogen production facility in the German state of Lower Saxony with 317 MW of solar.

Italy deployed 2.3 GW of new solar capacity in the first half of the year, while its cumulative installed PV capacity reached 27.4 GW at the end of March, according to Italia Solare, the national solar energy association.

Mongolia has connected a 10 MW solar farm to the grid, as part of a plan to deploy 40.5 MW of solar and wind capacity in the nation’s western regions.

Australia’s ClearVue Technologies says it has confirmed the scalability and “commercial viability” of its second-generation integrated glazing units, following a mass production run using a standard manufacturing line at a factory in China.