SunPower in late-stage discussions with First Solar to produce solar modules with tandem technology
In SunPower’s analyst day presentation, company executives announced that it is working with First Solar to develop a new type of residential solar module that pairs thin film with traditional silicon.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: Tongwei deploys another 32GW of solar cell capacity
In other news, JinkoSolar secured a 1GW supply agreement with CNNC Rich Energy Corporation Limited and Yunnan Province announced a plan to deploy another 50GW of PV over the next three years.
The solar tech check: Key takeaways from SiliconPV 2022
This week saw more than 300 scientists and PV experts converge in Konstanz, Germany for discussion of the latest development in PV cell technology, and for many the first chance for a face-to-face meeting in quite some time. pv magazine reports from the SiliconPV conference, where the PV research community revealed a strong focus on eliminating or optimizing the use of critical materials like silver and indium from cell production, alongside a wealth of improvements in efficiency and longevity that is still possible for silicon PV technology.
Rooftop PV to reduce cooling demand of uninsulated buildings
The shading effect of rooftop PV systems may help reduce cooling demand in uninsulated buildings by over 10% in the summer, according to new research from Jordan. The scientists also found that a rooftop array may increase a building’s heating load in the winter by 3.8%.
French government identifies 859 degraded sites for utility scale solar deployment
Commissioned by the Ministry for Ecological Transition, the “Etude friches” study lists the industrial and urban wastelands that could accommodate solar parks.
Enel, European Commission sign grant agreement for 3 GW Italian module factory
Enel plans to invest around €600 million in the expansion of its module manufacturing facility in southern Italy. The European Commission will contribute around €118 million to the total sum.
Novel strategy to pair agrivoltaics, solar parks with trackers
Researchers in Spain have developed a way to integrate tree-based agriculture with solar power plants based on north-south-oriented, single-axis trackers. They have identified an ideal geometric space between the module rows for crops to avoid affecting irradiance capture or the trackers.
Sweden deployed 500MW of solar in 2021
Sweden’s cumulative installed PV capacity hit 1.59 GW at the end of December.
Romania launches 950MW renewables tender
The Romanian authorities have allocated a budget of €457.7 million ($506 million) for a new renewables procurement exercise. Selected wind and solar projects will be granted rebates ranging from €425,000 to €1.3 million per megawatt installed.
EPC giant says Australian large-scale solar faces workforce shortage
Sterling and Wilson Solar has warned that Australia’s large-scale solar PV industry faces a significant workforce shortage as the nation shifts away from fossil fuels toward renewable power.
