Swiss solar monitoring start-up raises $272,000
SmartHelio claims to have witnessed a near 200% jump in demand for its deep-data driven solar asset management solution, which plugs into solar panels or energy storage systems. Sales of the internet-of-things enabled, cloud product have leapt in the last six months.
More sustainable redox flow batteries with vanillin
Austrian researchers have replaced heavy metals and rare earths with conventional vanillin in a redox flow battery. The Graz University of Technology team now wants to bring this technology to market.
Swiss developer wants to deploy 107 MW in Italian industrial zone
Comoil SA is seeking approval for two solar plants with capacities of 62.2 MW and 44.8 MW. It wants to install them in an industrial zone in Macchiareddu, Sardinia.
European residential PV battery market hit 2 GWh in 2019
Only 7% of Europe’s residential PV systems are linked with home storage, according to SolarPower Europe. The five largest markets – Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Austria and Switzerland – account for more than 90% of the continent’s total installed storage capacity.
ACS Group to sell renewables unit to France’s Vinci
The Spanish construction conglomerate plans to sell off its ACS Industrial unit, which includes solar and wind project developer Cobra, to French infrastructure giant Vinci.
France raises size limit for solar FITs from 100 kW to 500 kW
The French government has decided to reduce the planned degression rates for feed-in tariffs, in addition to raising the size limit for projects.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: 10 GW for Canadian Solar in Jiangsu
Canadian Solar has agreed to invest $1.5 billion in a 10 GW solar cell and module factory in eastern China. GCL New Energy, meanwhile, has revealed the terms of a plan to sell a solar project portfolio to state-owned Huaneng.
Solar secures 95.5 MW in Italy’s third renewables auction
The Italian authorities have awarded four solar projects in yet another undersubscribed renewables tender, with the nation’s top clean energy association criticizing the auctions for being uncompetitive. The lowest price for PV came in at €0.064 ($0.075)/kWh.
Chemical assist for stable perovskite cells at 23% efficiency
Scientists at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have developed a new ‘chemical innovation’, for the deposition of perovskite solar cells onto a substrate. The method is shown to produce cells at better than 23% efficiency, that remained stable after 500 hours testing at a raised temperature.
Cooling PV panels with regasification of liquefied natural gas
Researchers in Israel have suggested the use of regasification of liquefied natural gas to reduce the operating temperature of PV modules in solar parks located at gas terminals. According to them, the feasibility of such a cooling solution could be strengthened by the fact that both the PV systems and the LNG regasification systems are, separately, mature, economical technologies.
