Self-consumption

The virtual battery records the surplus solar power injected into the grid on sunny days and returns it at night or in winter. If the production of the PV plant is not sufficient to cover all the electricity needs, MyLight Systems provides the household with green energy supplied by Swiss energy company Axpo.

Telecomms, retail and garment manufacturing businesses have signed up to consume the electricity to be generated by eight solar projects in Jordan which will harness grid infrastructure to transfer an estimated 81 GWh of clean power annually.

RWTH Aachen University and Forschungszentrum Jülich evaluated the data. It shows a growing demand for photovoltaic storage systems in 2019 and continued positive market sentiment lasting well into 2020.

Researchers have modeled the effects of various PV module arrangements on a greenhouse used for rose growing in Iran’s Shiraz region. The team determined a ‘sweet spot’ where modules produced the most energy and provided optimal growth conditions for the crop.

Comoil SA is seeking approval for two solar plants with capacities of 62.2 MW and 44.8 MW. It wants to install them in an industrial zone in Macchiareddu, Sardinia.

Utility Iberdrola will provide solar power to the Spanish site of Saudi petrochemical company Sabic, which has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement. The electricity will be generated by a €70 million, 100 MW solar park.

Belgium is testing its first energy community by giving special status to a solar energy pilot near Brussels. The project will help to create a large-scale legal framework to apply the European Directives to energy communities.

The French energy regulator has expanded the maximum permitted distance between members of an energy community from 2 km to 20 km.

Self-consumption, the ability to isolate from the grid and provide power in the event of outages, and agricultural solar are key components in the 2020 revisions to Japan’s feed-in tariff program, reports RTS Corp.’s Izumi Kaizuka.

The Ministry of Environment and Climate Action will permit 220 self-consumption projects with generation capacities of no more than 1 MW to be connected immediately. The usual long-winded permitting process has been side-stepped as the government seeks to enable financially-stricken enterprises to benefit from lower energy bills during the public health crisis.