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.
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.
100 MW solar park comes online in eastern central Europe
The solar plant is located in Kaposvàr, southwest Hungary, and will sell power at €0.09/kWh under the country’s feed-in tariff regime.
Focus on stability as tandem cells approach 30% efficiency
The Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin set a world record for perovskite-silicon tandem cell efficiency last year at 29.15%. The group has delved further into the cell materials, looking to better understand mechanisms behind the impressive efficiencies achieved so far. Their latest work shows that with the current cell design, long term stability at efficiencies up to 32.4% should be possible.
Kazakhstan’s solar auctions conclude with lowest price of $0.035/kWh
The Kazakh authorities allocated 55 MW of PV capacity in two different procurement exercises. Two projects, totaling 40 MW, were secured by Russian module manufacturer Hevel Solar.
Spain to hold 3 GW renewables auction on January 26
Through the procurement exercise, the Spanish government wants to allocate 1 GW of PV, 1 GW of wind and another gigawatt of renewable energy capacity with storage.
Maxeon brings its AC module with power of up to 415 W to Europe
Authorized Sunpower distributors and installers in Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, and the Netherlands are now offering the Maxeon 5 AC module for rooftop projects. An Enphase microinverter is already integrated into the product.
