photovoltaics

The global solar industry employed around 5 million people at the end of last year, according to recently published employment report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Despite this optimistic statistic, the female experience in the industry is “uneven” as women are mostly hired for administrative work (58%) and an even slimmer margin (13%) hold senior positions.

Brazil’s Fortlev Solar has created a new polyethylene mounting structure to significantly cut installation times. It weighs 15 kg and uses the weight of natural and manmade materials for anchoring, rather than relying solely on fixed supports.

Tongwei Solar’s entry into the Australian solar market has triggered disruption in recent months, amplified by the ongoing global decline in panel prices, which solar analyst Warwick Johnston says has yet to fully affect the country.

Jaebin Choe, renewables permitting team researcher at environmental advocacy organization Solutions for our Climate (SFOC), told pv magazine that some South Korean regional governments have been forced to pass exceptional clauses to allow the construction of solar PV arrays in their municipalities despite federal recommendations. The association claims this represents the ‘biggest bottleneck’ in the country’s solar pursual.

BAJsolar has finished building a 10 GW solar cell factory in eastern China. It has invested CNY 2.6 billion ($355.75 million) in the new facility.

Plummeting module prices are weighing on European manufacturers, but the impact on wholesalers is differently, as warehouse conditions are showing signs of improvement.

A Spanish research group says air flux variations over different parts of solar plants could also lead to mismatch losses. Past. studies have only looked at the benefits of high wind speed on PV arrays, which enhances module cooling.

Tenevo Solar plant is expected have a solar capacity of 238 MW, a wind capacity of 237 MW and a storage capacity of 250 MW-500 MWh, with construction starting this month. Konstantin Nenov, director of Renalfa AD – one of the businesses behind the project – tells pv magazine the plant is emblematic of the Balkan country shifting away from coal and towards the sun.

We Drive Solar and MyWheels have announced plans to transform the Dutch city of Utrecht into the world’s first municipality with a “neighborhood battery on wheels.” The system will feature 25 Ioniq 5 vehicles equipped with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) tech from Hyundai Motor.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that North and South America are set to experience an annular eclipse on October 14, which means that some regions could lose a significant portion of their daily solar energy production. The path of the eclipse tracks across the southwestern United States, from Oregon to Texas, before continuing through Mexico, Central America and ending in Brazil, though impacts will be seen across all of the contiguous US and the top of South America.