Germany added 1.62 GW of PV in January-February period
Germany’s grid authority has reported that the country added 874 MW of solar in January and 746 MW in February.
Qcells announces new US solar encapsulant factory
Hanwha Advanced Materials Georgia has agreed to supply EVA encapsulant film to Qcells, in addition to supporting Qcells’ plans to develop a fully integrated solar supply chain in the United States.
New propane heat pump for district heating
Swedish manufacturer Qvantum has developed a 6 kW heat pump for apartments connected to district heating systems. It uses propane (R290) as the refrigerant.
Meyer Burger aiming for EU funding to hit gigawatt scale
Swiss PV manufacturer Meyer Burger hit its 321 MW production volume target last year, and its expansion into the gigawatt scale is already underway, as it recently completed two additional purchase agreements with major customers. It has also applied for hundreds of millions of funding support from the EU Innovation Fund, with a final decision to be made in the summer.
Assessing the area intensity of PV
Solar is wrongly perceived by some people to be an area-intensive energy generation technology requiring much more space than conventional fossil-fuel power plants.
Novel oxygen-ion battery may offer longer lifespan, claims TU Wien
Austrian scientists have created a lab-scale, solid-state, oxygen ion battery based on mixed ionic electronic conducting (MIEC), which is a special class of non-flammable electroceramic materials. The battery has around 30% of the energy density of lithium-ion batteries but can purportedly achieve a longer lifespan.
China installed 20.37 GW of PV in January-February period
China reached a cumulative installed PV capacity of 314 GW by the end of February, according to new figures from the National Energy Administration (NEA).
New Zealand moves forward with 8.5 TWh pumped hydro project
The New Zealand government will investigate the viability of establishing a pumped hydroelectric facility on the South Island. The project could provide up to 8.5 TWh of annual generation and storage capacity to support the nation’s transition to 100% renewable electricity generation.
US residential solar quotes hit average of $2.85 per watt
EnergySage says Qcells is now as the most quoted solar panel maker in the United States.
Solar curtailment vs. storage
Swiss researchers have looked at whether storage could be cheaper than curtailment in medium-voltage distribution networks with significant amounts of PV capacity. They considered storage costs, operational costs, grid constraints, electricity costs, PV generation models, and loads.
