Software

A European consortium including Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE is researching suitable crop and PV system combinations, conducting tests under Nordic conditions, and developing software to expedite adoption.

Conceived by a group of scientists in Australia, the novel online tool can be modified for different regulatory environments. The program’s user interface asks for seven input files with a resolution of 30 minutes.

British wholesale distributor Midsummer has teamed up with solar mounting system manufacturer Solarport to integrate ground-mounted arrays into its solar design tool.

Developed by scientists in Egypt, trhe Green Energy Solutions software allows users to assess the tradeoffs between the PV system reliability and its costs. Compared to PVsyst, it has an error margin of up to 9%.

The investment underscores the critical role of software in driving the mainstream adoption of solar.

With its sonnenVPP, German battery company Sonnen wants to improve the efficiency of virtual power plants which it says can offer primary balancing energy from houses with solar and storage and can operate up to 90% more cost-effectively.

Liten, a research institute of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, is developing a method of assessing losses at every stage from the reception of solar rays to the injection of electricity into the grid, to ‘make it possible to optimize the maintenance of the power plants to guarantee their performance’.

The Helsinki-based company has taken a step further in strengthening its position as a global energy systems integrator. Greensmith´s software is used in Wärtsilä´s new hybrid power plants.

Through its subsidiary Enel Green Power North America, Italian multinational the Enel Group has announced the acquisition of a 100% stake in Demand Energy, a U.S. company specializing in intelligent software and storage systems.