First unit of 250 MW floating PV project comes online in Ghana
The first 5 MW portion of the large floating power plant was connected to the transmission system of a 404 MW hydropower dam on the Black Volta River.
New study debunks several myths about floating PV
Dutch researchers have shown that bifacial floating PV arrays do not benefit significantly from sunlight reflected from the water, and claim that the water only reduces panel temperatures by a small amount. Bird droppings may also affect system performance, but floating PV could achieve a lower LCoE than ground-mounted arrays if such issues are addressed, they say.
Poland allocates 800 MW of solar in mixed PV-wind auction
Overall, the Polish energy regulator has allocated 1.7 GW of renewable energy capacity in a procurement exercise that was open to projects exceeding 1 MW in size. The auction concluded with a lowest price of $0.051/kWh, slightly up from the auction of the same kind held last year.
Jamaica turns to solar for irrigation, water treatment
The Jamaican government has tendered a solar project intended at powering a water treatment plant and has also announced it will power, with PV, all irrigation systems operated by the National Irrigation Commission.
Greece supports rooftop PV and residential storage through energy efficiency program
Launched in November, the “saving-autonomous” program is currently seeing strong interest from homeowners. The program has an €850 million budget and is intended at enabling around 600,000 homeowners to make their houses more energy-efficient by 2030. It includes the installation of a rooftop PV system in the frame of a renovation project.
Colored facade solar panels with 13.8% efficiency
Dutch startup Solarix has developed a new line of facade solar panels featuring 13.8% efficiency and output ranging from 110 to 180 W, depending on the module size and color. The panels can be bolted or glued onto aluminum mounting systems applied to facades.
Extreme weather causing US solar insurance premiums to explode
Catastrophic weather events in Texas and California have led to steep increases in insurance premium costs, according to a new analysis by Norton Rose Fulbright.
Solar module passive cooling with lapping fins
Malaysian researchers have proposed a new passive technology for solar module cooling based on fin heat sinks. The tech ensures lower PV system payback times and reduces operating module temperatures by up to 26 C.
Italian grid operator awards 250 MW of storage in pilot auction
Terna’s first auction for reserve storage capacity was largely oversubscribed, with over 1,327 MW of submitted projects. Overall, 23 projects were assigned to 17 operators.
Vanadium redox flow battery for utility-scale applications, microgrids
A unit of Largo Resources is launching a new vanadium redox flow battery for utility-scale storage projects, microgrids, renewable energy integration, grid smoothing, and backup power. The battery will feature a modular architecture, based on 1 MW “building blocks” and 2 MWh blocks of storage capacity.
