Solar Power

In the Belgian macro-region of Flanders, residential PV system owners that decided to install smart meters and abandon net metering are currently seeing their injection tariffs being paid at €0.11, up from just €0.03 in January. This gain adds to the high value of the kilowatt-hours they self-consume and it is helping them halve the payback time of their installations.

The AC module incorporates Enphase IQ 7+ microinverters and has now a higher wattage of 385 W.

Developed by German researchers, the 20.9%-efficient device was built with an architecture avoiding the use of the ionic dopants or metal oxide nanoparticles that are commonly used to contact the cell, as these can be subject to secondary reactions at higher temperatures.

The Chinese bifacial module maker has commissioned a 1.5 GW TOPCon cell factory in China’s Zhejiang province, which raised its total TOPCon cell capacity to 3.6 GW. Another 16 GW facility is being planned for the Shanxi province.

The Development Bank of Rwanda wants to finance developers to build photovoltaic and mini-grids ranging in size from 10 kW to 1 MW.

The project was secured by Tata Power in an auction held by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL).

The state has updated its Build Energy Efficiency Standards to include requirements for solar plus storage on all commercial and multifamily homes, while also requiring that all new residential construction – which already requires solar – to be energy storage ready.

Rolls-Royce is supplying its mtu hydrogen technology for the container terminal currently under construction at the Port of Duisburg in Germany. Furthermore, German energy company RWE wants to produce green hydrogen at the Pembroke Power Station site in Wales and Norway’s Scatec discussed plans for large-scale seawater desalination, hydrogen and ammonia production based on renewable power with the Egyptian government. Meanwhile, the EU has adopted a set of legislative proposals to decarbonize the EU gas market by facilitating the uptake of low carbon gases, including hydrogen.

The world’s biggest solar market is expected to add between 45 and 55 GW of new solar in 2021, the head of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association has revealed. Furthermore, Longi has further lowered its wafer prices and Xinyi Solar said it wants to build a new US$942 million solar glass factory in Yunnan Province.

An international research team has examined combining solar power generation with energy-intensive hydroponic horticulture and has found that this may be a viable solution depending on project size and available incentive policies. Their approach considered various factors impacting PV system efficiency, including environmental factors, the type of solar array, and the electricity demand from the hydroponic farm.