New app to calculate payback periods of rooftop PV systems
The Amortisator app, initially developed for the German market, is now available on the Apple and Google Play stores. Primarily targeting customer advisors, the app can be accessed for a monthly fee of €9.99 ($10.93).
Chinese PV Industry Brief: Big module makers call for wafer standards
Trina Solar, JinkoSolar, JA Solar, Longi, Risen, Canadian Solar, Tongwei, Chint, and Das Solar have issued a joint statement demanding the standardization of wafer sizes.
French railway operator launches renewables unit, plans 1 GW of solar
SNCF says it wants to devote 1,000 hectares of its land to solar development, so it can cover 20% of its electricity consumption by the end of the decade.
Dutch government mulling PV ban on agricultural sites
Dutch Economy Minister Micky Adriaansens said this week that she aims to make it impossible to install solar farms on agricultural land, with some unspecified exceptions. The plan has raised concerns at Holland Solar, with the trade group warning of potential damage to farmers and solar project developers.
Chinese oil company switches on high-altitude 40 MW solar-plus-storage plant
China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) says it has completed a 40 MW solar-plus-storage plant at an altitude of 3,000 meters. It is connected to 6 MW/12 MWh of battery storage and hosts grazing farm animals.
Indoor perovskite PV solar cells with 32.0% efficiency
Scientists in Thailand built an indoor perovskite solar cell with low-cost carbon electrode architecture. The manufacturing process is based on antisolvent deposition and vacuum thermal annealing (VTA) and reportedly results in higher perovskite film quality.
Indian state of Gujarat tenders 1.2 GW of PV
Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd. (GUVNL) has launched a tender to develop 1.2 GW of PV projects (including 600 MW under s greenshoe option).
Ground mounted agrivoltaics have minimal impact on grassland carbon-water cycling
A US-Spanish research team studied the ecological effect of a solar photovoltaic array located on a managed grassland plot using a hydraulic and soil hydrology model and field measurements. They found minimal effect on the plants’ carbon-water cycling, which they attributed to plant photosynthetic traits changing to take advantage of the dynamic shading under the panels.
US government offers $45 million for pilot production of PV components
Funding from the US government’s “Investing in America” agenda is intended to support silicon component manufacturing and the development of dual-use PV technologies.
Exceptional June sunshine in England and France as summertime high pressure moves northward
In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, presents the solar irradiance data it collected for Europe in June. The data show that unusual high pressure over the North Sea caused June’s total irradiation across England and France to be as much as 20% above normal,
