Proposal to move from net metering to storage in the Netherlands
The Netherlands storage industry association and the Dutch grid operators have proposed a faster phasing out of the net metering scheme to enable wider adoption of batteries among PV system owners. A 30% rebate on the purchase and installation of residential storage systems could help achieve the plan.
Solar module factory with 1.2 GW capacity inaugurated in Saudi Arabia
The production equipment for the factory was provided by Spain’s Mondragon Assembly. The facility is currently the largest module factory in the Middle East.
Indian hydropower producer enters solar business
SJVN’s board of directors approved a plan to set ut a wholly-owned subsidiary for the development of solar PV, wind, storage, and green hydrogen projects.
Three solar farms in Australia reach financial close
Greek company Mytilineos has reached financial close on all three of its 40 MWp solar farms in New South Wales, marking an important milestone in the company’s strategic move into the Australian market.
US landfills could host more than 60 GW of solar
Landfill sited solar capacity would nearly double Biden administration goals to grow community solar while increasing total U.S. solar power capacity by about 58%.
Shingled solar modules and shading
Scientists at Germany’s Fraunhofer Insititute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) evaluated the performance of its newly introduced ‘Matrix’ approach to interconnecting shingled solar cells. The institute finds that, thanks to optimized current flows, energy yield of the Matrix approach could almost double that of standard shingled cell interconnection under random shading conditions.
Novel solar cell architecture to reduce silver costs, improve voltage
Developed by a U.S.-based start-up, the new manufacturing process is claimed to reduce silver consumption and improve solar module performance by up to 3 W. It consists of connecting sub-cells in series within a single cell in order to increase the device voltage and without requiring cells to be physically broken and rewired.
A hybrid wind-solar-biogas sytem design including battery and thermal storage from PV modules’ excess heat
Tested in an off-grid location in India, the proposed approach includes the use of thermal storage from PV modules’ excess heat for space and water heating. The optimum configuration for the system was given by the combination of a 224 kW PV system equipped with a phase change material, a 206 kW wind turbine, a 420 kW biogas generator, a 633 Ah battery, and a 170 kW converter.
Malawi’s first grid scale solar project will shortly be followed by a second
The 20 MW Golomoti PV project will include 10 MWh of lithium-ion battery storage in a first for the sub-Saharan African market, according to its London-based joint developer.
Turkey’s largest PV project secures $292 million guarantee from UK export credit agency
Kalyon Enerji aims to finish working on a 1.35 GW solar project in Turkey by the end of this year. The installation, which already features 227 MW of operational capacity, uses central inverters from General Electric.
