Solar

Developer Solarity has completed the first floating PV array to be connected to the national distribution network under Chile’s net billing scheme. The plant will supply 100% of project owner Hortifrut’s energy needs, while allowing it to sell excess power to the grid.

As one of the most rapidly growing inverter manufacturers, Ginlong Solis went public and became listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) early last year. With the support from the capital market, Ginlong Solis continued its rapid growth. According to Wood Mackenzie, the company ranked among the top ten inverter manufacturers in terms of global product shipments in 2019. How has Ginlong Solis developed its market strategy? What new products and solutions is Ginlong Solis showcasing at SNEC 2020 in Shanghai? And how is the company dealing with the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic? These issues are addressed in the following interview with Wang Yiming, the founder and CEO of Ginlong Solis.

The government’s energy strategy targets new clean energy capacity this decade but all existing coal power plants will also remain active, gas pipelines could be upgraded and new nuclear facilities deployed.

Bridge to India figures show dominance of Chinese inverters, which supplied almost 80% of installs from July last year to the end of June.

Scientists in South Korea combined two processes to etch a nanostructure of tiny pyramids onto the surface of a silicon wafer. As well as trapping more light and increasing the cell efficiency, the group claims that its nanostructure improves the mechanical flexibility of the cells. This could potentially allow for the use of much thinner silicon wafers than is currently possible in production.

Developers installed 259 MW of new solar in Italy in the first six months of the year, according to ANIE Rinnovabili. But that doesn’t include a 103 MW plant that was connected to the grid in late June in the southern region of Apulia.

Developers now have until September 23 to lodge bids for an earlier, 110 MW procurement round and can also toss their hat into the ring for a new tender in the district of Jamnagar which closes on October 5.

Spanish engineer Isigenere has developed floating PV mounting structures based on virgin high-density polyethylene and says the manufacturing process, which features plastic injection, can produce around 1 MW of the product every five days.

Saudi Arabian and Pakistani scientists have created a serpentine cooling block structure to improve the efficiency of PV panels in floating solar projects by around 1.5%. The cooling block can be filled via a low-cost, 15.6 W commercial 12 V DC water pump with cool water.

French start-up Solar Cloth has secured a patent for a PV shade screen for solar greenhouses.