Solar Power

While Spain is struggling with the largest snowfall since 1971, pv magazine editor Alejandro Diego Rosell has asked two Spanish experts what the consequences of the massive snow loads produced by Storm Filomena will be on solar installations. According to them, some PV systems may stop working completely and component failures may not be excluded.

Japanese scientists have fabricated a prototype CPV panel that could be applied on spherical surfaces with a curvature radius of 100 mm, and under outdoor one-sun irradiation. The module is based on a silicone concentrator lens, a thermoplastic polyurethane sheet, and a rigid III–V triple-junction solar cell.

India’s PV capacity additions fell 38% year on year in the first eight months of fiscal 2020-21 (to the end of November), as pandemic-driven disruptions constrained new project development.

The two French companies have announced Horizeo, a massive project that includes a solar plant, battery storage, a green hydrogen production unit, a data center, and an agrivoltaic facility. The huge project is scheduled for completion in 2026.

Australian scientists have built a perovskite solar cell based on 2D and 3D salts. By adding a fluorinated lead salt in the processing solution – normally used to form 3D methylammonium lead iodide – they were able to achieve a 21.1% efficiency, an open-circuit voltage of 1.12 V, a short-circuit current of 22.4 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 84%.

The PV module relies on Jinko’s TOPCon mono cell technology, for which a record efficiency of 24.9% was announced last week. TÜV Rheinland has confirmed the result.

The Korea Energy Agency (KEA) will likely launch two 2 GW tenders in April and October. These will include the procurement of large-scale solar PV parks for the first time.

Neoen Australia has filed planning documents for a 500 MW / 1000 MWh big battery to be built west of Sydney.

The tender will be open to PV projects ranging in size from 10 to 20 MW. The Turkish government has set a ceiling price of TRY0.35 ($0.047)/kWh for the procurement exercise. The selected facilities will be located across 74 grid connection points and will have to rely on locally produced modules.

Researchers in the Netherlands and Singapore have measured irradiance-weighted average temperatures of floating PV systems in both countries and have compared the results with reference rooftop and ground-mounted PV systems. They have discovered that floating PV systems with open structures, which allow wind to pass beneath the modules, can provide a higher heat loss coefficient.