Germany

The bearable lightness of solar
The weight of a thin-film rooftop PV installation at Netherlands football club AZ Alkmaar has been highlighted in media reports as a possible cause of a stadium roof collapse. However, a full investigation is yet to be launched and one German specialist said studies have shown flush-mount PV panels do not increase static wind loads on rooftops.
Aug 12, 2019 // BIPV, Technology, Germany, rooftop, Netherlands, AZ Alkmaar’s stadium, Andries Broersma, Hanergy system, Thorsten Kray
Vattenfall to build large scale wind-solar-storage plant in the Netherlands
The energy company will build a 38 MW solar, 22 MW wind and 12 MW battery project on one site. The first fully renewable hybrid power plant could be a blueprint for post-subsidy Germany. Vattenfall has an eye on German coalfields in particular.
Aug 12, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Storage, storage, Germany, Netherlands, hybrid power plant, wind-solar-storage, Vattenfall, Haringvliet Zuid Energy Park, ground-mounted, Claus Wattendrup
Deutsche Bank attempts to wind up Singyes Solar
The German lender has issued a winding up petition over a $6.27 million debt and could scupper the manufacturer’s plans to restructure its defaulted payments and be taken over by a Chinese state-backed entity.
Aug 12, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Plants, Markets & Finance News, Singyes Solar, Germany, Hong Kong, Deutsche Bank AG, Water Development HK, Comtec Solar
SMA releases upgraded, SunSpec-compliant Sunny Boy-US inverters
SMA has unveiled a new and improved version of its Sunny Boy-US line of inverters, part of the company’s Power+ residential solar offering. The new Sunny Boy will offer the latest technology and include enhanced safety features to comply with current industry regulations.
Aug 9, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Inverters, Germany, Inverters, Europe, SMA, Sunny Boy-US, Nick Morbach
Residential storage in Europe to grow 500% by 2024
A new report from analysts at Wood Mackenzie forecasts 6.6 GWh of residential energy storage to be installed across Europe by 2024. The economics of the technology are at a tipping point, increasingly reaching grid parity in European markets. With rising electricity demand and falling battery system costs, the trend will further spread across the continent and fuel an uptick in demand.
Aug 9, 2019 // Residential, Storage, Grids, storage, Spain, Germany, Italy, Wood Mackenzie, Europe, Rory McCarthy
SMA reports losses for first half of 2019
For the second half of the year, the German inverter producer expects a significant increase in revenues and earnings, mainly due to high order intake. It also confirmed its forecast for the full fiscal year, despite declining sales and sales in the first six months of 2019.
Aug 9, 2019 // Markets & Finance News, Inverters, Germany, inverter, SMA Solar Technology AG, rooftop PV, ürgen Reinert
Solar-plus-storage to cover 25% of electricity demand of Saint Kitts and Nevis
The Swiss battery maker Leclanché will build a 35.6 MW / 44.2 MWh solar-plus-storage power plant, which will provide with clean power state-owned St.Kitts electric utility Skelec over a 20-year period. The new facility will be able to cover around a fourth of the archipelago’s total electricity demand.
Aug 8, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Storage, storage, Germany, Europe, solar-plus-storage, Leclanché, Skelec, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Basseterre, Anil Srivastava, Solrid, Switzerland, North America
Hanergy sets new efficiency record for heterojunction module
Chinese thin film producer Hanergy has set a new record of 24.85% module efficiency for silicon heterojunction technology. The record was achieved at the company’s research & development center in Chengdu, China, and has been confirmed by the Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hamelin, Germany.
Aug 8, 2019 // Technology, Manufacturing News, USA, Germany, China, Europe, Asia, Hanergy, heterojunction module, silicon, Institute for Solar Energy Research, Kaneka, Zhang Bin, Miasolé, CIGS thin film, North America
Why are prices rising in France’s utility-scale PV tenders?
Earlier this week, the French government published a list of winning projects for the sixth round of its tender for large-scale solar. There were a few changes from the preceding round, with French companies such as Urbasolar, Engie and Total consolidating their positions. However, even though a higher number of projects were submitted, prices increased slightly in the end. In a short conversation with pv magazine, Xavier Daval — a representative of SER, the French renewable energy association — explained the reasons for this.
Aug 8, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, France, Germany, Engie, tender, utility-scale PV, Europe, Total, Urbasolar, Xavier Daval, CRE, Enerparc
Oxford PV to become heterojunction/perovskite solar cell manufacturer
Perovskite solar cell developer, Oxford PV is to become a merchant heterojunction with perovskite top cell manufacturer with orders placed with Meyer Burger that will provide an initial 250MW of cell capacity that will enter production by the end of 2020.
Aug 8, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Germany, c-si manufacturing, solar cell, oxford pv, heterojunction, perovskite, Frank P. Averdung, meyer burger
German-French scientists develop ultra-thin GaAs solar cell with 19.9% efficiency
The researchers have developed a new manufacturing process by using an ultra-thin absorbing layer made of 205-nanometer-thick gallium arsenide (GaAs) and a nanostructured back mirror.
Aug 7, 2019 // Technology, Manufacturing News, France, Germany, solar cell, GaAs, Fraunhofer ISE, C2N
Solar-plus-storage grid parity sweeps through top EU markets
The costs of residential solar-plus-storage have already dropped or will only take a few years to drop to nation-wide grid averages across key European markets, according to Wood Mackenzie.
Aug 7, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Residential, Markets & Finance News, Storage, Policy, ENERGY STORAGE, Spain, France, Germany, UK, Italy, Wood Mackenzie, Europe, solar-plus-storage, energy storage economics, solar economics, woodmac, stats, analysis
Fabric-based solar cells on the horizon
New textile-based solar cells developed by Fraunhofer researchers, semitrailers could soon be producing the electricity needed to power cooling systems or other onboard equipment. In short, textile-based solar cells could soon be adding a whole new dimension to photovoltaics, complementing the use of conventional silicon-based solar cells.
Aug 5, 2019 // Technology, Manufacturing News, Solar, Germany, Fraunhofer, textile-based solar cells, Europe
German investor scoops up 6.5MW of distributed solar in El Salvador
A German player has become the owner of a distributed solar pipeline in El Salvador, laying the groundwork for construction to launch later this year.
Aug 2, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, Germany, El Salvador, MPC Capital, Hamburg, PV plant, Geo Ingeniería, Europe, North America, Costa Rica
WoodMac: APAC renewables to outcompete coal within eight years
Indian and Australian solar will spearhead a grid parity shift set to take hold of Asia-Pacific renewables within less than a decade, according to Wood Mackenzie.
Jul 29, 2019 // Solar, Germany, China, Indian, Australia, LCOEs, Asia-Pacific, McKinsey, Europe, Asia, Oceania