renewable energies

The French authorities have wrapped up a procurement exercise for commercial and industrial (C&I) rooftop PV projects. They allocated 362.2 MW of solar capacity to 42 developers at an average price of €0.1021 ($0.1104)/kWh.

India’s NTPC has allocated 1,584 MW of renewables-plus-storage projects at $0.056/kWh. The winning developers will set up renewable energy projects backed by energy storage systems to provide firm, dispatchable renewable energy, developed on a build-own-operate basis.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that Chile, Uruguay and Argentina saw irradiance up 5% to 15% above normal in January and February. Responsible for the surplus sunlight across South America was the ongoing Amazon drought, and circulation changes that pushed weather fronts further south of the continent than usual.

The need for long-duration energy storage in a net-zero world is undeniable but with conventional battery prices tumbling, can anything dislodge the mainstream grip of lithium ion? S&P Global’s Susan Taylor provides an update on non-lithium storage technologies.

UK-based Konexa has finalized a deal that will see Climate Fund Managers and Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund invest $18 million to establish Nigeria’s inaugural private renewable trading platform and provide renewable energy to Nigeria Breweries.

Volatility in the global PV market did not go unnoticed this week at the Solar Solutions Amsterdam trade fair. However, the prevailing impression is that the Dutch PV market is poised for stability.

The Atacama Desert in Argentina and Chile is the sunniest region on earth. Despite the excellent solar radiation resource availability and plenty of room on rooftops and on the ground, solar PV is not as widespread in either country as would have been expected based on the initial deployment of large-scale PV power plants in both countries some ten years ago.

German startup Domum has developed PV charging-parking systems for e-scooters and e-bikes. They use up to 660 W of solar panels.

Researchers in Australia have compared the technical and financial performances of a hydrogen battery storage system and a lithium-ion battery when coupled with rooftop PV. They evaluated two commercially available systems – LAVO and Tesla Powerwall 2 – and found that the lithium-ion battery provides better financial profits, whereas the hydrogen battery offers more battery lifespan for long duration of energy storage.

The German authorities say that around 40% of the 1.07 GW of solar capacity installed in February came from unsubsidized PV systems. The country’s cumumlative PV capacity reached 84.88 GW at the end of the month.