News

Today we have heard of farmers in Australia unhappy at the approval given for three solar projects on agricultural land and also learned the benefits PV can bring for fish and shrimp farmers. In this op-ed for pv magazine USA, Stoel Rives LLP attorneys Sara Bergan and Thomas Braun discuss the balancing act to be made between solar and agriculture in the emerging Midwestern PV market.

With the benefits solar panels can bring to cropland being considered in Europe, PV and aquaculture are working in tandem in Vietnam. Shrimp and fish farming requires land and lots of water but solar panels are helping mitigate those demands.

The solar manufacturer today moved to reassure investors ahead of what promises to be another rocky set of first-half figures in two days’ time. The Hong Kong company says it wants to add another 3.6 GW of mono ingot and wafer capacity by early 2021.

Scientists at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology have developed a method for producing a ‘smart fabric’ with a supercapacitor energy storage device embedded in it. Its developers say it can be readily integrated with a solar cell or used to power wearable technology.

The state government of Victoria has approved three projects in the Shepparton region which have a combined generation capacity of 175 MW. However, some residents are upset at the loss of prime agricultural land and now-redundant irrigation equipment which had been upgraded using government grants.

While based in Munich in Germany’s south, renewable asset management software provider 3megawatt’s first major clients were in the United States. However, as the European markets have transitioned beyond feed-in tariffs to the complexity of subsidy-free solar and wind arrays, the understanding of the need for asset management tools is rapidly increasing, says 3megawatt founder and CEO Edmee Kelsey.

The wind power generator also has a 930 MW solar portfolio but did not take big steps in unsubsidized PV during the first six months of the year.

While the damage is largely done for cells, modules and inverters, increased tariffs on U.S. module components and 15% measures on lithium-ion batteries are not good news for either sector.

Two sponsors of one of Spain’s iconic subsidy-free plants have sealed a deal to deploy a smaller successor in the same area, planned again without support from government money.

The pressure building for the US to water down decades-old federal energy policy risks further tilting the scales in utilities’ favour, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

Australian miner Oz Minerals is turning to wind and solar power for operations at what is billed as the largest unexplored nickel-copper deposit in Australia, it order to curb the need for "high cost fossil fuels."

BBOXX has successfully closed a US$50 million Series D funding round that will see the next generation utility company accelerate its global expansion efforts.

India’s Maharashtra state has launched a process to procure a major slice of grid-linked solar power, pushing for low prices in line with earlier tenders this year.

‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member, JA Solar has supplied 33.1MW of mono-PERC panels to Ukraine-based project developer, UDP Renewables for the Scythia-Solar-2 PV power plant in the Zaporizhia region of the country.

Victoria’s state government has yielded to industry pressure and increased the frequency and number of rebates available in its rooftop solar subsidy programme.