Keeping PV panels honest
Michelle McCann and Lawrence McIntosh, the partners behind the PV Lab panel-testing facility in Canberra, see Australia’s solar installations as a vast, aggregated virtual power plant.
Sweden exempts from energy tax on self-consumption all PV systems of up to 500 kW
On the top of the new fiscal measure, the Swedish government has also announced that the rebate scheme for rooftop PV, which was originally scheduled to be closed this year, will be continued in 2021. It will only apply to municipalities and enterprises and with a limited budget of 260 million SEK ($29.6 million), however.
Residential storage solution with BYD battery, Fronius inverter
BYD and Fronius have started offering the BYD Battery-Box Premium storage system and Fronius Symo GEN24 Plus inverter as a bundle. They said the combined solution can be used in residential PV arrays and light commercial systems.
First Solar brings modules to distributed generation market
The U.S. utility-scale PV pioneer is going small. After decades of avoiding distributed generation, it is now offering its Series 6 modules for ‘projects and customers of all shapes and sizes.’
Repositioning Australian rooftop PV
A University of South Australia study has shown that solar owners selling electricity to the grid should position their panels to minimize the discrepancy between peak use and peak production.
Photovoltaics for highways
The Austrian Institute of Technology, Fraunhofer ISE, and Forster Industrietechnik are developing a new rooftop PV system concept for motorways. They aim to harness the potential of underexploited road networks to generate electricity.
Kstar unveils 1,100 V string inverters
The Chinese manufacturer has designed the new products for the C&I solar segment. They are available in two versions, with 121 kW and 150 kW of AC output and efficiency ratings ranging from 98.7% to 99.0%.
New business model to help utilities own and operate rooftop PV
Scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the U.S. have defined a utility-ownership model for rooftop PV they say could raise power company shareholder earnings 2-5%.
Airlifting PV modules for C&I solar projects
Is airlifting solar modules the future of commercial and industrial rooftop PV installation? Epho Commercial Solar recently used a helicopter to airlift pallets of modules to 12 rooftops at a Woolworths location in Australia.
Enphase and Sonnenstromfabrik unveil AC solar panel
The US microinverter producer and the German panel maker have launched a residential glass/glass PERC module equipped Enphase IQ 7+ device. The 60-cell PERC module is available in three versions with power output ranging from 320 to 330 W and efficiencies of 18.8% to 19.4%.
