News

Open PV Project goes offline
The US Department of Energy has shut down the site for its Open PV Project, which supplied cost and installation data. Is this the winding down of a project whose time had come, or is the administration of President Donald Trump closing off another data source on renewable energy?
Sep 20, 2019 // Markets & Finance News, Policy, USA, SEIA, Donald Trump, North America, Open PV Project, Dr. Christopher Clack, Vibrant Clean Energy
Indian renewables leaders split over need for regulation
While some of the industry insiders at REI 2019 have made predictable calls to scrap restrictions imposed by regulators, others have continued to maintain that policy support is crucial, while audience members voiced concerns about India’s lack of recycling rules.
Sep 20, 2019 // Markets & Finance News, Storage, Tariffs, Policy, India, China, Asia, REI, Somesh Kumar, Santosh Khatesal, Enerparc Energy, Anuvrat Joshi, Cleantech Solar, Arvind Reddy, Enerparc
GE to supply 100 MW/300 MWh battery for South Australia solar farm
GE Renewable Energy has been chosen to supply a massive battery for the 200 MW Solar River Project in South Australia.
Sep 20, 2019 // Storage, storage, Australia, Oceania, GE Renewable Energy, Jason May, Prakash Chandra
Amazon pledges zero emissions by 2040
Amazon unveiled a number of new climate initiatives this week, including 80% renewables by 2024, zero emissions by 2040, a fleet of 100,000 electric vans and a $100 million investment in reforestation measures.
Sep 20, 2019 // Solar, USA, Amazon, North America, Jeff Bezos, Sally Jewell, The Nature Conservancy
Google bets on cheap solar via ‘biggest’ clean energy buy to date
Tumbling solar costs have spurred Google on to a dramatic boost of its exposure to the technology, acting to line up supply from projects worldwide as part of a major clean energy push.
Sep 20, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, USA, Amazon, Chile, solar pv, South america, Europe, North America, Facebook, Google, Denmark, corporate ppa, Sundar Pichai
Denmark poised for multi-gigawatt solar boom in coming decades
The solar surge expected to hit Europe in the coming decades could extend to one of the continent’s northernmost countries, new official stats indicate.
Sep 20, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, solar pv, Europe, auction, Denmark, market forecast, dea,
Markus Kayser: solar sinter 3D printer
London-based markus kayser, a masters candidate in design products at the royal college of art, converts the raw resources of sunlight and sand into glass products with his fully automated, solar-powered ‘solar sinter‘ 3D printer.
Sep 20, 2019 // BIPV, Technology, bipv, UK, Europe, London, 3D printer, solar sinter, Markus Kayser, Building-integrated photovoltaics
UK scientists find way to cut down indium
A research team led by the University of Liverpool has developed a transparent conductive oxide material to replace tin with molybdenum. The results demonstrated better performance and potentially lower material costs than the transparent conducting layers used in today’s commercial solar cells.
Sep 19, 2019 // Technology, UK, Europe, TCO, indium, Tim Veal, Liverpool University
Uzbekistan builds 40 MW solar park to power free economic zone
The self-consumption project, being built by EPC contractor Helios Energy, is being realized by the Ministry of Innovative Development. The energy generated will power a free economic zone in the Chust district of the Namangan region.
Sep 19, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Asia, Uzbekistan, Helios Energy, Shavkat Mirziyoyev
Moldova sets renewables tariffs
The energy regulator has set a 15-year payment of $0.10/kWh for PV projects with a generation capacity of 10 kW-1 MW. The first auctions for large renewables projects are planned for early next year and will grant a fixed rate rather than a variable premium.
Sep 19, 2019 // Markets & Finance News, Tariffs, auctions, Europe, Moldova, ANRE, Vitali Zveaghintev, Zaw Energy
A common language for bifacial PV
This week pv magazine was in Amsterdam for the sixth edition of the BifiPV workshop, where the discussion focused on the impressive achievements made by bifacial solar modules and the challenges the technology faces as it moves toward mainstream adoption.
Sep 19, 2019 // Technology, USA, Canadian Solar, Europe, Netherlands, Amsterdam, LONGi, PERC, North America, BifiPV, Jolywood, Jenya Meydbray, Joshua Stein, Netherlands Energy Center, U.K. National Physics Laboratory
The blackest black for more efficient solar cells
MIT scientists claim to have created a material 10 times more black than anything witnessed to date. It is said to be able to absorb more than 99.96% of incoming light and reflect 10 times less light than other superblack materials. The invention may be interesting for the development of black silicon PV technology and carbon nanotube-based solar cells.
Sep 19, 2019 // Technology, USA, Canadian Solar, Massachusetts, solar cells, MIT, North America, Brian Wardle
Safety is paramount
When Sony first commercially introduced lithium-ion batteries in 1991, the industry recognized their potential to revolutionize portable electronics. Ever since, there have been countless efforts to improve the technology, with many researchers focusing on energy density and longevity, in line with demand from emerging applications such as electric vehicles (EVs) and on-grid energy storage. Julian Jansen and Youmin Rong of IHS Markit discuss the effect of safety concerns on this rapidly growing global market.
Sep 19, 2019 // Storage, Opinions, USA, China, Li-ion batteries, Asia, North America, Sony, Julian Jansen, Youmin Rong
Korea’s South Jeolla province is becoming a solar hub
According to Korean government, around 18,000 unlicensed projects up to 1 MW in size are being developed in the area. Restrictions on such projects, which are driving this year’s strong solar growth in the country, are being introduced to reduce their environmental impact.
Sep 19, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Residential, Korea, MOTIE, KEPCO
Austria mulls mandatory PV as new rebates for solar and storage launched
With the region of Styria considering making PV mandatory on all new buildings, the nation’s Climate Fund will support PV and storage projects in agriculture and forestry. Applications can be submitted by November 2020 – or until the pot is empty.
Sep 19, 2019 // Plants, Residential, Storage, Rooftop PV, storage, Europe, Austria, Styria