News

Spanish developer and utility Iberdrola is waiting for project approval from the Castilla-La Mancha government to move ahead with four utility-scale solar PV facilities in the central Spanish region.

Australia needs to drastically overhaul its power market in order to harness and benefit from the country’s skyrocketing rooftop solar and battery market, according to the Clean Energy Council (CEC).

Powertis is to develop four projects in total across Minas Gerais and São Paulo. The most significant project, which is anticipated to have a capacity of 495MW, will be joined by three separate 90MW projects.

Solar players have offered tariffs around the US$40/MWh mark as they competed at Malaysia’s latest industry tender, in figures emerging as the country prepares to select the winners.

A solar PV technology claiming to have achieved 50% higher output than conventional systems in tests has bagged EU research money to speed up its move to large-scale production.

Having stated an intent to hit 65 GW of annual mono wafer production capacity by the end of 2021, the Chinese solar manufacturing giant has now said that landmark will be achieved next year.

The PV Cycle Association collects and recycles PV waste. Having treated more than 30,000 tons since its creation, it estimates 150,000 tons of PV modules will reach the end of their lifecycle by 2030.

The governments of the two African nations are considering deploying huge volumes of generation capacity over two decades. The project, still in its initial phase, is being supported by the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Energy.

PEG Africa, a company offering pay-as-you-go solar to consumers and businesses in West Africa has received a $5 million investment from European Union initiative ElectriFi. The company says it has now secured more than $50 million and plans a major expansion.

With the 200 hydrogen bikes offered to journalists and world leaders at the G7 summit in Biarritz proving popular, manufacturer Pragma Industries has received an order for 1,000 of them from Chilean president Sebastian Pinera. The company’s founder, Pierre Forté, wants the bike to have a societal impact in developing countries.

A consortium of European research institutes has received €10.6 million in EU funding to establish pilot production of a high efficiency module concept developed by Swiss startup Insolight. The module combines high efficiency multijunction cells with a solar concentrator lens and has previously demonstrated 29% efficiency.

The government intends to build a 25 MW solar park in Sveti Nikole and a 10 MW facility in Makedonski Brod. The feed-in premium granted to the winning bids has been capped at €15/MWh.

Two of Germany’s leading research institutes and a CIGS module maker have announced plans to work on the development of perovskite-CIGS tandem cells with a target of producing thin film modules with better than 30% efficiency.

The early development of PV projects in Latin America was spearheaded by one country: Chile. And while there remain prospects for large-scale project development, its distributed generation segment has the potential for enormous growth, says Marcela Puntí Martín, the general manager of the Chilean Solar Energy Association (ACESOL).

Vehicle-to-grid functions could soon become increasingly important. While policymakers discuss the necessary regulations in other nations, the Netherlands government is motoring ahead with the technology.