Europe

Italian utility-scale solar boom a no-go without storage, event hears

The colossal solar boom Italy wants to drive in a decade could lie beyond reach if developers do not act to embrace energy storage more decisively, industry players have argued at a recent event.

Sep 10, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Storage, ENERGY STORAGE, Italy, Europe, solar-plus-storage, subsidy-free pv, BESS

EU PVSEC: Heraeus touts breakthrough ‘LECO’ tech increasing cell efficiencies by 0.15%

Major PV materials supplier, Heraeus Photovoltaics has collaborated with German company, Cell Engineering to develop metallisation pastes for its ‘LECO’ (Laser Enhanced Contact Optimization) technology that can increase multiple solar cell architectures conversion efficiencies by up to 0.15%.

Sep 10, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Germany, Europe, c-si manufacturing, solar cell, PERC, heraeus photovoltaics, npert, topcon, eu pvsec, Hans Jochen von Bomhard

Combining Solar & Farming Benefits Both

Fraunhofer ISE in Germany was one of the first to experiment with combining solar and farming on the same land. Its early research found doing so increases the productivity of the land significantly — up to 60% or more in some cases.

Sep 9, 2019 // Solar, Germany, Europe, Fraunhofer ISE, agrivoltaics, University of Arizona, Agriculture, agrophotovoltaics

RES battery prevented complete blackout in the UK

On August 9, a thunderstorm caused 1.5 GW of generation capacity to go offline within seconds in the U.K. The incident caused millions of households to temporarily lose power but the situation could have been considerably worse if not for the country’s battery storage reserves.

Sep 9, 2019 // Storage, TESLA, UK, Australia, Europe, neoen, Oceania, RES battery

Industry: Italian solar comeback needs market redesign, not subsidies

Subsidies are not the answer for Italy to revive its solar industry from the deadlock brought about by the scrapping of feed-in tariffs (FiT), operators have warned at an industry event.

Sep 9, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Tariffs, Italy, PPA, pv power plants, solar pv, Europe, subsidy-free pv, feed-in tariff, Paolo Rocco Viscontini

UNEP: Solar the star of a decade of ‘incredible’ renewables momentum

Solar PV has seen a “meteoric rise” over the past decade, with more capacity installed than any other power source, according to a new report by BloombergNEF and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Sep 9, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, Germany, UK, China, Europe, Asia, bloomberg nef, unep, solar finance, development finance, reports, Inger Anderson

STI Norland expects 1.2GW of contracted mounting systems orders in 2019

Mounting systems specialist STI Norland said it had surpassed 3GW of cumulative installations with 1.2GW of contracted mounting systems orders expected in 2019.

Sep 8, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Japan, Spain, France, India, pv power plants, Europe, Asia, Mexico, North America, sti norland, pv trackers, pv mounting systems

High power prices, falling PV costs and new regulations behind Brazil’s solar carnival

The nation’s thriving distributed generation market is flying, as was evident at last week’s Intersolar South America trade show. The sector seems unconcerned by mooted changes to net metering incentives in the new year and when even an environmental non-believer like President Bolsonaro is on side, it is difficult to be pessimistic.

Sep 8, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Inverters, Solar, USA, Sungrow, Canadian Solar, China, South america, Latin america, Europe, Brazil, Asia, Fronius, Greener, North America, Intersolar South America, Solar Promotion, Florian Wessendorf, utility scale solar, Marcelo Sousa, Ada Li, Thais Zampieri Bitancourt, Julian Rau, Trina, Álvaro García Maltrás, Apollo Chai, Rodolfo Meyer, Portal Solar, Marcio Takata, Lucas Troia

Jordan launches tender for utility scale solar at Azraq refugee camp

When built, the 5 MW solar park will supplement two other megawatt scale plants powering the camp. The project is expected to be developed with the support of the Spanish government.

Sep 6, 2019 // Plants, Spain, tender, Europe, MEMR, Azraq, Dave Mozersky

ABB called out by UK Solar Trade Association over quality and customer support

The STA has warned Italian company Fimer, which is set to acquire Swiss company ABB’s inverter business, it will have to honor customer service commitments made to its British members, and voiced fears related to historic quality issues with ABB inverters.

Sep 6, 2019 // Inverters, ABB, Inverters, Europe, Fimer, Solar Trade Association, Power-One

Ukraine orders lift Risen up overseas module shipment rankings

The Ningbo-based manufacturer shipped more than a quarter of the panels it exported in the first six months of the year to the eastern European nation. All the big manufacturers posted rising shipment volumes as emerging markets made up for slow growth in their homeland.

Sep 6, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Jinko Solar, China, Ukraine, JA Solar, Europe, Asia, Trina Solar, GCL, Risen, Chint

Solibro restructuring plan will depend on shareholders

The District Court of Dessau-Roßlau yesterday confirmed self-administered insolvency proceedings have been conducted at the German thin-film CIGS module manufacturer and a provisional administrator has been appointed.

Sep 6, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Markets & Finance News, Germany, Europe, Solibro, thin-film CIGS module, Henning Schorisch

France added just 397 MW of solar in six months

At the end of June, France’s installed PV capacity topped 9.3 GW for a 4% increase on the figure recorded at the end of December. Only 397 MW of new capacity was put into operation, however, a much lower figure than the 490 MW deployed in the same period of 2018. Why?

Sep 6, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, France, Europe, CRE, David Callegari

China’s aluminum smelters alone could shift 2.3% of daily electricity demand

German energy agency Dena has found China’s smelter fleet could shift 432.5 GWh of daily demand to more amenable hours to tally with renewables generation. To make it happen though, the regulator needs to lay down rules for providing incentives.

Sep 5, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Germany, China, Europe, Asia, Dena, flexible

Polish solar goes big with 1.1GW dual announcement

Poland’s still-nascent solar market could witness a colossal boost in the future if two schemes unveiled this week succeed in reaching the finish line.

Sep 5, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Poland, utility-scale PV, Europe, eastern europe, mining, miner, large-scale pv, solar mines

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