Europe

The Spanish manufacturer said the new three-phase device may reach a power output of 160 kWac in a single 75kg unit. The inverter features 1500 Vdc technology and is said to be able to reach a power output of 161 kW (AC) in a single 75kg unit.

Major PV inverter manufacturer, SolarEdge Technologies is taking its patent infringement case against Huawei Technologies to the Regional Courts of Jinan and Shenzhen in China, after fillings in Germany in June and July 2018.

X-Elio has enlisted a Portuguese oil and gas group as offtaker to a large-scale solar pipeline in Spain, adding to the country’s bustling PV power purchase agreement (PPA) scene.

Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) has sealed the latest of a raft of solar plays in Poland, purchasing a relatively sizeable portfolio from China’s ReneSola.

Finland’s first roof mounted solar power plant with capacity exceeding 1 MW is currently being built on the roof of Sponda’s Elo Shopping Centre in Ylöjärvi. The project will be completed in November 2019.

Inverter manufacturer Solaredge has filed three additional patent infringement lawsuits against its competitor, Huawei, in China. This comes after three similar legal actions against Huawei that had been undertaken by Solaredge in Germany last summer. While Huawei has decided not to comment on the matter, the Chinese manufacturer revealed that it had filed three patent litigation claims against Solaredge at a Chinese court this May.

An Italian research team has developed a device that it says can easily be integrated into a PV cell, and can boost its efficiency by converting more light particles into a high energy state before they are absorbed by the cell. The scientists claim that their innovation could offer a green‐to‐blue photon upconversion yield as high as 15%.

Solar’s embrace of subsidy-free models could push it in greater numbers towards owners with the experience to navigate power price swings, according to Wood Mackenzie.

Spanish developer Enerside will start construction of a 322.06MW solar park in northeastern Brazil early next year, government officials said over the weekend.

The global solar market is growing rapidly but remains highly fragmented, Wood Mackenzie says.

Originally intended to commission 140 MW of storage, the tender drew three winning projects: a 50 MW system and two 30 MW facilities. Eirgrid has estimated the total value of the contracts at around €6 million per year.

The project is in Giuncaggio, in the northeastern part of the French island, and was built with Tesla Powerpack batteries, a Nidec power management system and a new power management device from the project’s developer Corsica Sole.

China has invested US$90 billion in the countries involved in its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) since 2013. The BRI involves developing infrastructure in 126 partner countries to boost trade within a region stretching from Indonesia to Western Europe via the Middle East and East Africa, inspired by the historical Silk Road.

Cesium lead black perovskites could be interesting for solar cell development if their crystals are observed in their less efficient but more stable beta phase. The efficiency shortfall can be solved by healing emerging cracks in the surface of the cell using a choline iodide solution, according to an international team of scientists.

The governmental body responsible for keeping mine pollution out of waterways has announced completion of the first phase of a plan to use solar to keep down its electricity bills.