MSquare Energy becomes Australia’s second module manufacturer
Sydney-based MSquare Energy has ambitions of becoming Australia’s largest solar panel manufacturer, and it is entering the market at a pivotal moment when Australia’s panel manufacturing industry is pushing to compete on equal footing with global leaders.
SunPower added 13,000 solar customers, looks to strong growth in the third quarter
In its second quarter earnings statement, the company said it expects volume and margin improvements in its residential business to continue, with Q3 volume expected to top 40% compared with 2020.
Italy notches 212 MW/333 MWh of distributed storage capacity, adding 22.5MW/37.9 MWh in Q1 2021
The country added around 22.5 MW/37.9 MWh of new, small-sized storage capacity in the first quarter of 2021.
India offers fastest energy payback for rooftop PV: 0.44 of one year
The energy payback time of a silicon PV rooftop system mounted in India is only 0.44 of one year (160.6 days), compared to 0.53-0.67 years in Africa, 1-1.3 years in Europe, and 1.42 years in Canada, as revealed by a world map by German research body the Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy Systems (ISE). For the calculation, the report authors considered the installation used a typical, Chinese-made, 60-cell, PERC, 19.9%-efficient solar module.
Solar-powered large scale microbial food production
Producing nutrient-rich microbes with solar PV has the potential to produce more food with fewer resources, according to a German research group that modeled the large-scale production of microbial biomass by combining ground-mounted photovoltaics, air, water, and nutrients.
Bringing water to 273 farmers with just 90 kW of solar pumps
Two solar water pumps installed by the Philippines’ National Irrigation Administration (NIA) will cover a total area of more than 500 hectares.
As Maui approaches 100% renewables, NREL models grid options
Maui’s electric power grid is expected to operate with 100% solar and wind on an instantaneous basis as early as 2024, and NREL is helping the island plan to reliably supply electricity.
Germany installed 2.75 GW of PV in first half of 2021
In June alone, new PV systems totaling 430 MW were connected to the German grid. The country’s cumulative operational PV capacity reached 55.3 GW at the end of June.
Integration methodologies for solar-assisted heat pumps
Italian scientists have assessed the technical potential of vapor compression heat pumps assisted by photovoltaic-thermal systems. They analyzed two main configurations of this combination describing the advantages and disadvantages of both solutions. The cheapest and easiest to deploy system is a single-source direct-expansion (DX) configuration for hot water for space heating or domestic hot water.
Jakson unveils 21% efficient mono PERC solar modules
The Indian solar manufacturer has announced a new Helia series of high-efficiency mono PERC PV panels, ranging from 450W to 600W outputs, and both mono-facial and bifacial categories. The multi-busbar modules apply to all installations from residential and commercial to utility-scale.
