McDonald’s adds 420 MW of solar, pushing renewables capacity past 1 GW
The fast-food giant has signed three new virtual power purchase agreements for two wind farms and a solar project. The 750 MW of new capacity follows the company’s decision to deploy 380 MW of renewables last year.
Solar facade for 3D-printed concrete house
Taiwan-based Heliartec has deployed a solar facade on a 3D-printed concrete house in Belgium. It said it installed the solar facade with the “circular construction” philosophy in mind.
The world has 53 million hectares of abandoned cropland suitable for PV deployment
Researchers in Norway have mapped all cropland areas that were abandoned between 1992 and 2015 and found that the vast majority is suitable for PV and bioenergy deployment. Around 30% is located in Asia, followed by the Americas, with a 28% share, and Africa, with a percentage of 22%. Europe and Oceania had shares of 20% and 5%, respectively.
Cooling PV panels with shallow geothermal energy
Iraqi researchers have demonstrated the technical and economical feasibility of using shallow geothermal energy to cool PV systems. They tested two different techniques – a closed-loop system and an open-cycle system – to reduce power losses from 30% to up to 4.1%.
Philippines to host 1 GW of solar under PPAs
Solar Philippines is planning to deploy several unsubsidized solar plants in the provinces of Batangas, Cavite, Nueva Ecija, and Tarlac.
A 26.5% efficient perovskite-silicon tandem cell
Scientists in Switzerland achieved 26.5% efficiency on a perovskite-silicon tandem cell measuring 4cm² and relying on industry-standard screen-printed metallization, further demonstrating the technology’s potential for large-scale production and low-cost electricity generation.
Australian car park to host thousands of solar panels
Australia’s largest shopping mall plans to install more than 400 solar-shaded parking bays as part of a multimillion-dollar parking lot upgrade.
US scientists apply Suns-VoC method to outdoor PV tests
Researchers in Arizona have used the Suns-VoC characterization method for indoor solar cell testing to monitor PV installations. The method can also be used with outdoor distributed-generation and large-scale solar arrays.
Neoen energizes 140 MW solar park linked to 3.2 MW/2.2 MWh of storage in El Salvador
The facility is now selling power to local distributors AES, Delsur, EDESAL and B&D at an average price of $ 49.55 under a 20-year PPA.
Total launches tool to estimate solar potential of unexploited land
The new tool is aimed at accelerating the deployment of photovoltaic power plants on degraded or polluted land, parking areas and quarries in France.
