From pv magazine 10/23

Farmers are under pressure. Cost pressure, environmental pressure, regulatory pressure. There are obvious reasons to diversify income streams but there’s also every reason to avoid additional risk.

For most farms, agrivoltaics means fixed installations, often on rooftops – well-established technology with predictable costs and returns. But things are changing. Pilot schemes for farm-based solar projects are popping up across the European countryside, testing the mounting industry’s latest innovations in the process.

Land demand

Cormac Gilligan, a director at analyst S&P Global with a focus on solar and energy storage, told pv magazine that mounting system development is in lockstep with land scarcity. In mature solar markets, the best utility-scale sites have been snapped up, fueling demand for cost-efficient ways to install solar on more rugged terrain.

Gilligan said most of the tracking systems the solar mounting industry has brought to market recently have been designed with undulating terrain in mind. That enables trackers to be installed at higher gradients, reducing the need for costly soil levelling on undulating sites. From the land developer’s perspective, cutting capital expenditure is a win. In the agricultural sector, things get much more complex.

Making the business case for farm-based PV is not a simple calculation. There’s a balance to be struck between farming yield and energy output. That’s why projects that experiment with different mounting systems in different locations and with different crops are so important. Gilligan’s colleague Joe Steveni, a research analyst at S&P Global, said that these schemes will help to paint a more general picture of what works well in
different agricultural settings.

“If you have a successful pilot in northern France, you’ll have a good understanding for the south of France,” Steveni said. “It will spread.”

In the field

In North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, a new pilot scheme promises to provide data on how solar installations affect crop yield and quality while investigating potential auxiliary benefits ranging from improved irrigation to a reduced need for crop protection. By the end of this year, three different types of mounting system will be installed at the site. Research will start at the beginning of 2024 and is set to run for at least five years.

Located on seven hectares of recultivated land at the Garzweiler opencast mine, near Bedburg, the pilot scheme is a partnership between energy giant RWE and the national research institute Forschungszentrum Jülich, with financial support provided by the state government. The demonstration plant will have a peak generation capacity of 3.2 MW.

Berries on the farm will grow beneath PV modules elevated on a high structure created by Zimmerman PV-Stahlbau. It is predicted that the steel company’s mounting system will be a good fit for berry cultivation as crops including raspberries and blueberries can tolerate shade.

Vertical-aligned solar mounting systems from Next2Sun are also being installed at the site, spaced at intervals wide enough to allow harvesting machinery between the module rows. On the tracker front, Schletter Group’s 2P Tracker System is being installed in rows that both follow the sun and deliver additional benefits.

Alongside investigating crop suitability and cultivation methods, research will focus on how the solar installations can be optimized so that standard components can be used as much as possible. RWE said this would reduce the levelized cost of energy and should lead to an “acceleration of the market ramp-up of agri-PV.”

On the agricultural side, there is a lot to learn. Matthias Meier, project leader for agrivoltaic activity at Forschungszentrum Jülich, told pv magazine that the scheme could provide the kind of insights that farmers need to invest with confidence.

“Farmers are asking about the costs of these kinds of systems,” he said. “They are used to making quite big investments with their machinery, and a lot also have rooftop PV. They know how to deal with that but agri-PV is an uncertain technology for them. I cannot say ‘if you put it on your sugar beet field you can harvest as much as without agri-PV’, or ‘you can calculate this kind of factor.’ This we cannot say at the moment and this is the most uncertain point.”

Proven tech

There may be unknowns for farmers but there’s real certainty coming from solar mounting system suppliers. Christian Salzender, the head of project sales at Schletter Group, said pilot schemes are not really trials for his business, so much as demonstrations.

“We know the system works but we also want to show it to our clients in small sample installations,” he said.

Salzender said trackers offer more efficiency and therefore leave more space for farming and growing. Schletter’s system can also move to 60 degrees from the horizontal, creating space for harvesting machines and the potential to dump snow from modules during the winter.

Operation and maintenance costs have also been improved in the latest generation of tracker systems, Salzender added. “Mechanical failures are as likely as in cars,” said the Schletter representative. “The overall components are well proven throughout different industries.”

The Atlantic Council says that the DOE's announcement represents the most substantial public investment in US hydrogen and noted that California and Texas are the hubs of clean hydrogen activities, with a future outlook for blue hydrogen. However, the council mentioned a missed opportunity for hydrogen use in long-haul trucking. To address this, the Atlantic Council made recommendations for policymakers, suggesting a focus on cost sharing for demand-side projects within the H2Hub funding derived from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

From pv magazine Germany

Germany installed 919 MW of new PV capacity in September, according to the latest figures from the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur). This compares to 1,056 MW in August and 750 MW in September 2022.

In the first nine months of this year, developers connected 10.72 GW of solar to the grid, compared to 5.6 GW in the same period a year earlier.

This means that the German government's goal of achieving a newly installed capacity of 9 GW for this year has already been exceeded. With a view to the goal of a cumulative installed capacity of 215 GW by 2030, the monthly increase – viewed linearly – would have to be 1,578 megawatts, as determined by the Federal Network Agency. This value has not been reached in any month so far this year.

The country's cumulative solar capacity surpassed 77.67 GW at the end of September.

In September, the combined capacity of rooftop systems supported with feed-in tariffs or market premiums totaled 666 MW. This is also the lowest value since February and a significant decrease compared to previous months when there were more than 800 MW in this segment – with the peak value of almost 937 MW having been reached in June.

Reduced moisture in the Amazon delivered clear skies and increased irradiance across the tropics of South America. Solar assets in the region saw 110-120% of average monthly irradiance through September.

A strong and slow-moving storm early in the month lessened irradiance in southern Brazil, but the rest of mid-latitude South America saw mostly normal irradiance, according to data collected by Solcast, a DNV company, via the Solcast API. The Altiplano Plateau saw the highest irradiance for the whole continent. This is in line with historical averages, as the area records some of the highest irradiance levels in the world.

In September the tropics saw higher irradiance than usual. This was due to clearer skies caused by the current drought in the Amazon. The northeastern part of the Amazon has been dry since mid-July, resulting in reduced moisture in the rainforest and less evapotranspiration. This is a major source of moisture fuelling cloud formation over rainforest regions.

The region saw regular cumuliform clouds typical of tropical regions, but not the large storms and rainfall events that are typical of the start of the wet season in September. The rivers in the Amazon are reported to be at their lowest level in over a century as there has been a lack of rainfall and ensuing dry conditions in recent months. This has been exacerbated by warm conditions, as South America recorded the warmest September extending from heatwaves.

The Brazilian southern states of Rio Grande de Sul and Santa Catarina saw reduced irradiance. It recorded 10-20% below September averages and is due to an unusually strong extra-tropical cyclone. The storm moved onshore from the Atlantic in early September, and it’s slow-moving nature meant the irradiance impacts were more focussed and intense. Most of the remainder of mid-latitude South America saw much more moderate irradiance at or slightly below the long-term average.

Solcast produces these figures by tracking clouds and aerosols at 1-2km resolution globally, using satellite data and proprietary AI/ML algorithms. This data is used to drive irradiance models, enabling Solcast to calculate irradiance at high resolution, with a typical bias of less than 2%, and also cloud-tracking forecasts. This data is used by more than 300 companies managing over 150 GW of solar assets globally.

From pv magazine USA

Enphase has announced the launch of its IQ EV charger for charging electric vehicles at home. The microinverter and home energy storage provider said that the chargers offer between 31 miles (49.8 km) and 61 miles of range charging per hour on its fast chargers.

The EV charger can be paired with Enphase solar and energy storage systems. It handles Wi-Fi connections and includes smart control and monitoring capabilities.

The devices can be coordinated to help solar and battery owners maximize electricity cost savings by charging directly from solar production. With a home battery, the Enphase system enables vehicle charging even when there is a grid power outage.

IQ EV chargers come in 32 A, 48 A, and 64 A configurations, which offer 7.7 kW, 9.6 kW, and 15.4 kW max power respectively.

Each charger has NEMA 6-50P, and 14-50P rated input cables, which are hardwired. It has a ruggedized J1772 connector for universal compatibility and a 25-foot charge cable. The device is rated for both indoor and outdoor use. They come with a five-year warranty from Enphase and is backed with a 24-7 customer support line from Enhpase.

“As a solar contractor that has installed Enphase microinverters for my customers since 2009, I’m glad to see the IQ EV Chargers join Enphase’s product ecosystem,” said Louis Woofenden, owner and engineering director, Net Zero Solar. “I was excited to try out this improved smart charger on the Enphase platform with ClipperCreek heritage. It’s so helpful to be able to easily schedule charge times, manually start and stop charging my EV, and monitor my EV energy use – all from the Enphase App on my phone.”

The 32 A device starts retail at $732 while the 64 A device retails at $1,176 on the Enphase site. Enphase is positioning its charger, microinverter and home battery as a “one-stop-shop” for home energy solutions.

“Installing an EV charger with a solar and battery system simply makes sense and can reduce overall installation costs,” said Jayant Somani, president and general manager, digital business for Enphase Energy.

From pv magazine Australia

While 2023 is still trailing 2021 for small-scale solar installations, the difference is now only 150 MW, or 7%, according to data from Sunwiz. In 2021, the fourth quarter was the most tumultuous three-month period. On the other hand, elevated lead levels and a spike in Google searches suggests that the fourth quarter of this year will contend for the strongest period in 2023.

“I think there’s already a good deal of momentum backed in and that we are going to see elevated levels [of sales],” Warwick Johnston, managing director of Sunwiz, tells pv magazine Australia. “I suspect we are going to have a strong October, so we’re up for a record year.”

Lead volumes this September were up 78% compared to the number of quote requests in September 2021, Sunwiz has found. Many customers are npw turning to Google to find out about installing solar.

“I’m seeing consumer interest levels 10 to 20% up on what they were in the same time of previous year. All this hasn’t yet flowed through to leads proposals and sales,” Johnston said of the spike in Google trends for “solar” and “solar panel.” He said that it's “the highest level it's been … and paybacks [on solar systems] are all improving now, so that bodes well for 2024 as well. My prediction is that we are going to have a strong finish to the year and have a record year for 2023.”

The average size of solar systems in Australia is also at record high, with especially strong growth in 10 kW to 15 kW systems. “The reason is because you’ve got commercial doing really, really well. Record year for commercial.”

Falling prices

Another interesting trend is that while Australian solar system prices are now falling after the pandemic hike, this has not translated to customers spending less overall.

This is demonstrated in the above two graphs, with the total dollar customer spend on top and dollars per watt below.

“If you look at the dollar total spend, it’s pretty consistent and flat. So this to me is saying as panels are getting cheaper, people are putting more of them on,” Johnston said.

Illinois-based ELM Solar, the US reseller of UK-based Naked Energy's solar thermal and photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems, has installed 240 of the British company's TÜV-certified collectors at a student dormitory at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.

The university student residence installation is claimed to generate solar heat up to 120 C, with an annual peak capacity of 69.9 kW thermal energy. It is the first North American project for the British company.

The VirtuHOT HD collector uses a heat plate to absorb the sun’s energy and transfers it to the solar fluid to a high-efficiency heat plate. The absorber plate has a low emissivity coding reducing radiative heat loss. The vacuum in the glass tube reduces additional heat loss, resulting in a maximum of efficiency.

Naked Energy also makes PVT systems in a vacuum tube form with an absorber plate, conventional silicon solar cells, a borosilicate glass tube, and an integrated reflector in a mounting system with a 25.4 cm profile.

The absorbers can be tilted towards the sun optimising performance on pitched roofs, flat roofs, and vertical facades. A single tube unit measures 2,165 mm x 300 mm x 265 mm and weighs 20.9 kg. Its aperture area is 0.64 m2 and the absorber area is 0.331 m2. Its peak thermal output is 275 W and the electrical output is 70 W.

“The business development teams at ELM Solar and Naked Energy are currently in conversations with a variety of leads in the United States,” Christophe Williams, Naked Energy CEO, told pv magazine, noting that potential customers in the US range from paper and pulp manufacturers, health care facilities and restaurants, to pilot projects with international utility companies.

“Solar heat technology has enormous potential because it takes the task of heating water, a major energy cost in any building, either off the power or gas grid, resulting in financial and carbon savings for the building owner,” said Lee C. Graves, chairman, ELM Companies, owner of ELM Solar.

According to its CEO, Naked Energy is developing a software platform to ease the planning and modeling of new PVT installations, including cost, performance, and return on investment calculations for PV-generated electricity, solar heating and cooling. Williams also said that a first German project is slated to start construction in January, without providing further details.

Naked Energy claims that its technology quadruples the reduction of greenhouse gases per square meter compared to traditional solar PV panels.

The article was amended on October 20, 2023 to reflect that it was a thermal system and not a PVT system as originally reported.

From pv magazine USA

FERC's new energy infrastructure report shows that solar holds the largest share of capacity additions in the energy mix in the United States. 

In the January-August period, just under 9 GW of solar capacity was added, representing 40.5% of all capacity additions. This represents 36% growth year on year. 

Wind power provided an additional 2.7 GW, accounting for about 12.5% of new capacity additions. When including solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and biomass, renewable energy sources contributed 54.3% of capacity additions. 

Much growth lies ahead for decarbonized energy to push out fossil fuel sources. For total available installed generating capacity, natural gas remains the leader. More than 44% of available electricity generation capacity comes from natural gas, followed by coal, wind, hydropower, and solar.

FERC forecasts strong growth in solar for years to come. It expects more than 83 GW of “high probability” solar capacity additions through August 2026. This dwarfs the 4 GW of natural gas additions expected through that date. 

FERC said that the 83 GW of “high probability” solar additions may be quite conservative. There are more than 214 GW of solar additions in the three-year project pipeline. 

Natural gas has 564 GW available installed capacity today, while solar has 92 GW. Looking ahead three years, if solar were to add all the projects in the pipeline to the grid, it would reach 306 GW. The figures suggest that with a healthy ramp-up of projects, solar could feasibly push out natural gas as the No. 1 provider of electricity by 2030. 

Reaching status as the number one provider of electricity will take significant funding. A report from Rhodium Group and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) showed that the United States’ total investment in clean energy, clean transportation, building electrification and carbon management reached $213 billion over the last year (from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023). 

The $213 billion invested represents a 37% leap over 2021-22 investments of $155 billion. Clean investment continues to strongly increase each year. In 2018/2019, total investments reached $81 billion, and it has climbed every year since.  

Domestic manufacturing of clean energy technologies has become an increased focus in recent years, and rich tax credits and incentives have served as an attracting force. Manufacturing investments totaled $39 billion in 2022/2023, more than doubling the $17 billion invested in the previous report period.  

Solar represented the largest energy and industry investment category in the second quarter of 2023, attracting $8.62 billion. This was followed by storage with $4.08 billion, and wind with $2.03 billion.

According to Siemens Energy, hydrogen is produced on site with a 1 MW electrolyzer, stored in a 1 ton tank to power a Siemens Energy SGT-400 industrial gas turbine.

From pv magazine 10/23

Solar installations in India have been steadily rising since March 2023. As per official numbers, India installed 9 GW (AC) of solar capacity from January to August 2023, which is around 12 GW of DC capacity, according to estimates. These installation numbers reflect many projects that were originally supposed to be built in 2021 and 2022 but were hindered by high equipment prices.

A government-approved relaxation of restrictions imposed by the approved list of models and manufacturers (ALMM) – which indicates which products can be included in government-backed projects – has accelerated Indian PV installations, helped also by falling module prices.

The start of 2023 looked a bit gloomy for India, compared with the usual pattern of a strong first quarter each calendar year. Module price and availability prevented many projects from being completed. In May, after the SNEC solar trade show in China, the market turned around. Module prices, excluding import duties, quickly dropped below $0.18 per watt (W) and continued to fall, reaching less than $0.15/W in the July to September period. Installers took the chance to complete pending projects, driving the current installation boom, which is likely to continue through the first three months of next year.

Rising imports

Local developers have grabbed the opportunity offered by module price declines to order in bulk. We believe that will lead to a strong upswing in module imports in the final three months of this year and the first three months of 2024. These modules will go into projects in the first part of next year and possibly even further out, depending on how legislation evolves.

Current regulation allows for government-tendered projects to include modules not named on the ALMM list, until March 31, 2024. Modules imported before that deadline but not installed will not be eligible for installation on government-aided projects. Developers are trying to persuade the government to extend that deadline by another three months, to give them more flexibility in terms of orders and imports.

Expanding production

Module manufacturers have ramped up India’s solar panel output, with annual production capacity expansions driven by national local-content policies. Annual module manufacturing capacity in India has already crossed the 20 GW mark but the factory utilization rate remains below 50% to date. That means, with local manufacturers having brought their prices closer to the cost of imported modules (plus basic customs duty), they will not be able to meet demand.

The fall in imported solar cell prices has resulted in a strong spike of cell imports over the past few months, which is likely to boost solar module-assembly factory utilization rates. The share of Indian-manufactured modules in new installations is expected to increase accordingly, especially after March 2024.

The combined generation capacity of imported and locally manufactured modules is still not enough to supply the 60 GW (AC) or so of solar projects that the Central Electricity Authority reports as being at some stage of construction.

Projects corresponding to more than two thirds of this capacity are unlikely to obtain modules before March 31, 2024. Hence, most developers of government-backed projects will need to procure modules included on the ALMM list. Such constraints on module procurement put the solar project pipeline at risk of delays.

In parallel with the government-backed PV project pipeline that dominates the Indian solar market, there is also growing interest among commercial and industrial electricity consumers seeking to procure solar power via on-site systems or private power purchase agreements. As these are not limited by ALMM list requirements, these segments of the solar industry are in position to benefit from possible module inventories in 2024. India’s PV deployment is, hence, set to diversify further across different market segments.

Given the high number of PV projects waiting to be commissioned and the level of module imports expected for the rest of the year, S&P Global Commodity Insights forecasts India will have installed 20 GW of solar this year. Solar installations in 2024 could be even higher than our forecast, depending upon government policy and possible further ALMM relaxations. Deadline extensions are possible, as we have seen previously in India’s solar power market.

About the author: Josefin Berg is an associate director for solar research at S&P Global Commodity Insights, leading a team that covers forecasts, trends, and company strategy in the downstream solar market. Her focus areas include developers and engineering, procurement and construction business strategies, demand for PV in emerging markets, and the role of solar in the power mix. With more than 12 years of industry experience, she writes reports on PV markets and trends and regularly speaks at industry events.

A group of scientists from South Korea's Rural Development Administration, an agriculture organization under the country's Ministry of Agriculture, has created an energy system based on photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) panels and a ground-source heat pump.

The system is intended to provide cooling and heating to greenhouses.

“In Korea, geothermal energy is widely used as renewable energy for agriculture, but if geothermal heat is used for a long time, the heat source becomes insufficient,” the agency said, noting that covering around 10% of the greenhouse's roof with PVT panels may easily compensate for this typical shortcoming of geothermal energy. 

The researchers said the PVT panels are able to produce hot water at temperatures ranging between 30 C and 40 C. “This is then used as a heat source for the heat pump to produce hot water at temperatures ranging from 48 C to 50 C, which is a suitable range for greenhouse heating,” they explained.

In spring, summer, and fall, when heating is not needed, the heat produced by the PV panels is sent to the groundwater layer, stored, and used to heat the greenhouse in winter.

The PVT system used in the project has an overall efficiency of 73% and is able to achieve an electricity output of 3 kW and a heat output of 7.9 kW of heat occupying a roof surface of around 18㎡. The presence of the PVT panels, according to the research group, allowed them to reduce the installed capacity of the existing geothermal system by up to 30%.

The researchers conducted an economic analysis of the system performance and found it may reduce heating and cooling costs in a greenhouse by up to 78% compared to diesel generators. They also estimated that the system may achieve a payback time of 4.4 years. “The PVT panels can increase the energy saving rate of a greenhouse by 20% compared to existing geothermal systems,” the researchers added.

The Rural Development Administration said it has applied for a patent for this technology and plans to distribute it to Korean farmers.

“The price of electricity for agricultural use is rising, putting a huge burden on farm management,” said the agency. “We are actively using new and renewable energy such as solar power, heat, and geothermal heat to reduce the costs and achieve carbon neutrality.”

Researchers from Spain have simulated the effect building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) will have on the energy consumption and the economics of high-rise office buildings in the Mediterranean area.

They presented three different BIPV integration scenarios for the GESA building, an office building built in the 1960s in Palma de Mallorca, in Spain's southern archipelago of the Balearic Islands.

“Despite of its iconic and protected status, the GESA building has been abandoned for several years, hence it requires a refurbishment that will also update its skin to the current energy efficiency standards,” the scientists explained. “The inefficient envelope, location (isolated and in a sunny climate), and representability of a typology of office building make it a good reference for studying the impact of refurbishing with BIPV.”

Via the TRNSYS simulation software, which is commonly used to simulate the behavior of transient renewable systems, the group simulated the impact of BIPV taking as reference a representative floor. As in the physical building, among the parameters inserted are the GESA building’s curtain wall structure, which is 77% composed of semi-transparent windows and 23% of non-window opaque areas. As the building, although abandoned, is protected by a local heritage commission, the façade design has to keep its original characteristics.

The reference scenario was based on the existing double-glazing Parsol Bronze window. It was compared to four other scenarios, one with only solar control windows; the second with solar control windows and BIPV modules in the opaque area; the third with only transparent BIPV windows; and the fourth with BIPV windows and opaque BIPV in non-transparent areas.

“The data for the transparent PV used in this study is based on a prototype currently in development, hence there is room to improve the thermal, optical, and electrical properties to better fit the building needs, as well as to increase the PV conversion efficiency,” the research group emphasized.

According to the results, the final energy consumption in the existing reference case was simulated at 51.3 kWh/m2. In the case of only solar control windows, this value reached 45.8 kWh/m2, with very similar results with the addition of opaque BIPV. However, in this case, the building will be able to use 5.8 kWh/m2 and export 2.6 kWh/m2 to the grid.

In the case of only transparent BIPV windows, the energy consumption will be higher, as that module will block more of the solar radiation and, therefore, result in higher heating and lighting demands. Overall, that system will require 49.8 kWh/m2 while consuming 5.1 kWh/m2 and exporting 2.2 kWh/m2. In the case of using window BIPV and opaque BIPV, the demand will reach 47.6 kWh/m2, while self-consumption will take 10.9 kWh/m2 and 5 kWh/m2 will be exported to the grid.

“The results show the potential of the BIPV solutions for improving the energy balance of the building. The transparent PV reduced the energy demand by 6.9% and the total energy balance by 21%,” the scientists added. “The opaque PV further improved the results of the two glazing system solutions, the energy balance improving to 28.1% and 38.3% with the solar control and transparent PV solutions, respectively.”

The researchers also conducted an economical analysis, which they claim showcases the “relevance of the electricity pricing schemes into the promotion of BIPV.” The components and installation cost of the components were mostly obtained from a construction materials database, while the cost of the prototype window BIPV was assumed at €200 ($210.65)/m2.

They looked into two tariff levels. The first is based on current Spanish tariffs and demand, while the second assumes a high penetration of PV into the national grid. In this case, the net load of high-penetration photovoltaics presents a very low price. Another variable was the compensation for the electricity sold to the grid by the building, which they estimated at either 0%, 30%, or 100% of the electricity price.

Currently, 30% of the electricity price is the typical export value in Spain. Under this assumption, with the current price profile, the discounted payback time for solar control will be 24 years, for solar control and opaque BIPV it will be 14 years, for window BIPV only it will be over 50 years, and the combination of both BIPV technologies will result in a payback time of 24 years. In the assumption of high PV penetration and 30% electricity price, however, the payback time in all systems may exceed over 50 years.

“The lower average electricity price and, more importantly, the timing of the generation in the ‘high PV’ scenario explain the significantly worse payback periods,” they concluded.

Their findings are available in the paper “Impact of building integrated photovoltaics on high rise office building in the Mediterranean,” published in Energy Reports, which also included an economic evaluation. The research group comprised academics from The Technical University of Catalonia and the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research.

From pv magazine USA

LG Energy Solutions is set to launch a new residential energy storage system in the US market in November. The enblock S products are stackable, modular lithium-ion batteries designed for easy installation. 

A list of LG installers can be found here.

From pv magazine Australia

Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has harnessed sub-millimeter ceramic particles to store energy in a concentrated solar thermal system. Its pilot plant in the state of New South Wales has successfully reached temperatures of 803 C through this method.

The agency said the novel concept increases temperatures in the process from 500 C to 800 C, and possibly more than 1,000 C. This holds promise for decarbonizing heavy industry, which can require extreme heat for processing. It also overcomes some of the limitations of heat transfer fluids traditionally used in concentrated solar thermal (CST) technologies, said the CSIRO.

To continue reading, please visit our pv magazine Australia website. 

From pv magazine Germany

The Austrian government has decided to reduce the VAT for solar modules to 0% from January 2024. Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler announced the new measure as part of a new economic stimulus package.

“As an association, we have been calling for this measure for a long time and are very pleased that the PV expansion in the small segment will be given a boost next year,” said Herbert Paierl, CEO of trade body PV Austria. “This means that our motto ‘Zero sales tax – zero bureaucracy' will finally be implemented. It is the right step at the right time, as the industry is currently experiencing a decline in demand for photovoltaics.”

From pv magazine India

NGEL has tendered an EPC package with land for the development of 300 MW of solar projects. The projects can be located anywhere in India and must be connected to the interstate transmission system.

MSPGCL has started accepting bids for an EPC package with land for 600 MW(AC) of grid-connected, ground-mounted solar PV projects under the RE Bundling Scheme. The projects can be located anywhere in Maharashtra.

From pv magazine USA

Flexrack by Qcells and Alltrade Industrial Contractors, an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company, are partnering on the construction of two solar projects in Alberta, both with bifacial solar modules on fixed-tilt trackers.

The 81 MW Scotford project is expected to be the largest behind-the-meter solar project in Canada. Additionally, the 101 MW Saddlebrook project includes the future addition of a flow battery energy storage system, projected to be one of the first of its kind in North America.

The projects are currently under construction and are providing hundreds of local jobs. Both projects are expected to complete construction by the fourth quarter of 2023.

The Saddlebrook project will be owned and operated by an energy infrastructure company, with operations in natural gas, oil and power industries. The project is partially supported by Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA). Projects range from new solar opportunities in coal-impacted communities to electrification of transportation to energy storage and more.

Once complete, the electricity produced by the Saddlebrook project will feed into the Alberta Interconnected Electric System (AIES) through a new 138 kV substation located on the project land. In total, the project is expected to directly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 73,600 tons of carbon dioxide per year, or the equivalent of taking nearly 16,000 cars off the road.

Alltrade is constructing the Saddlebrook Solar Project in a joint venture partnership with SkyFire Energy, a solar contractor serving Western Canada.

The 81 MW Scotford project is expected to power a global oil producer’s refinery complex, which supports the fossil fuel company in achieving its goal of net zero emissions by 2050. The project is expected to contribute approximately $200,000 a year on a levelized basis to the Strathcona County local government and school system.

“We are excited to be able to work alongside our longtime partners at Alltrade in Canada again to both support fossil fuel companies in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions as well as deliver more renewable energy to local communities,” said Ken Mack, head of Flexrack by Qcells.

Flexrack by Qcells offers custom-designed, fixed-tilt ground-mount and single-axis solar tracking systems in the commercial and utility-scale solar mounting industries. The company has completed more than 4 GW of solar racking installations in over 40 U.S. states, nine Canadian provinces and across the globe. One of its notable projects is the 1.3 MW Jimmy Carter Sumpter project in Plains, Georgia.

Alltrade provides EPC services, specializing in ground-mount solar. The company has 1 GW of utility-scale project experience in Canada.

North American manufacturer Ecoflow has launched a “retrofit” residential battery solution that it claims can be easily integrated with existing rooftop PV arrays.

“Unlike conventional DC-coupled or AC-coupled battery systems, PowerOcean DC Fit uses EcoFlow's PV-coupling technology to directly connect with existing home solar energy systems on the PV side – meaning users don't need to install additional storage inverters,” the manufacturer said in a statement.

The battery uses lithium iron phosphate (LiFePo4) as the cathode material and is based on a self-adaptive algorithm that the manufacturer said makes the system compatible with most of the existing solar single-phase and three-phase inverters that are already in use in existing PV installations.

“Using EcoFlow's unique PV-coupling technology, the PowerOcean DC Fit connects its batteries directly with solar panels. Users can leave the AC wiring as it is and don't have to apply for an on-grid permit,” the company stated.

The storage system measures 680 mm x 183 mm x 479 mm and weighs 59.2 kg. It has a capacity of 5 kWh and is expandable to 15 kWh. It also features an output voltage range of 150-800 V and a maximum output current of 20 A.

The new product is IP65-rated and reportedly has a lifecycle of more than 6,000 cycles.

“Each battery pack is connected parallelly and equipped with the EcoFlow BMS (Battery Management System) to prevent one battery's issues from affecting other packs,” the manufacturer said, noting that the new product comes with a 15-year warranty.

From pv magazine USA

Many large solar projects sell their electricity via PPAs, typically for time frames of about 25 years. According to LevelTen Energy's latest quarterly report, PPA prices are now rising in the United States.

LevelTen said developers face rising costs across the board, from financing and interconnection to labor and supplies. This has tempered the boost from federal tax credits made available by the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

The report attributed the 4% quarterly jump in solar PPA prices to price increases for independent system operators like PJM Interconnection, Southwest Power Pool  (SPP), and ISO-New England. While price increases in the recent quarter were lower than in some previous quarters, cumulative price increases are making it more difficult for corporate buyers to secure CFO approval, it said.

“Developers are looking to find ways to provide buyers with some pricing relief, but this is exceedingly difficult amid a wide array of development and financing challenges,” said Gia Clark, senior director of strategic accounts, LevenTen Energy. “Expectations of a prolonged high interest rate environment are pushing developers’ costs up across the board, with energy players of all sizes feeling the heat.”

Prices in the Texas ERCOT region fell this quarter, down 4%. In the second quarter, threats from anti-renewables bills led developers to include risk premiums in their prices. Those regulatory threats have since diminished, and average prices have come back down in response.

Image: LevelTen Energy

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A group of researchers led by China's Nanjing University has created a global-scale inventory map to determine the spatio-temporal distribution of floating photovoltaics.

“Existing statistical reports on water-surface photovoltaics (WSPV) only provide aggregated summary statistics but lack spatiotemporal information, which hinders the environmental assessment and policy management,” the research's lead author, Shanchuan Guo, told pv magazine. “We developed a new and adaptive workflow for identifying WSPV using satellite imagery and integrating multiple spectral indices.”

In the paper “Mapping global water-surface photovoltaics with satellite images,” published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Review, the research group explained it combined multi-source data and mapping results to assess the geographic distribution and characteristics of WSPV s and produce an an up-to-date spatial database.

The water mask was based on the global surface water dataset (GSW) created by the European Union's Joint Research Centre (JRC), which provides the annual spatial distribution of surface water from 1984 to 2020.

“WSPVs are spectrally distinct from most land cover types and can be identified by remote sensing once they are larger than the satellite pixel size,” the scientists specified. “We used Google Earth images and Sentinel satellite imagery from 2019 to 2021 to examine and modify the type changes of WSPV validation samples over three years, and finally obtained the annual correctly labeled validation samples.”

The academics claim that the proposed approach enables the mapping of WSPVs over large areas at high resolution. They found that the water areas covered with floating PV installations increased from 187.0 km2 to 272.0 km2 between 2019 and 2021. They also estimated estimated a global installed WSPV capacity of 12.9 GW.

“The results advanced the understanding of the global spatial-temporal dynamics of the recent WSPV development and will be useful for informing future global and regional renewable planning and management for policymakers and project stakeholders,” they stressed.

The research group also hosted scientists from Michigan State University and the Shanghai Jiaotong University.

German PV manufacturer Technaxx has introduced a new solar table for residential use.

The table embeds on its surface monocrystalline solar panels with 410 W of output and a power conversion efficiency of 20.97%. Its pre-assembled micro-inverter allows for 400 W of output.

“We use PERC technology for our solar modules, which feature high-efficiency cells and are equipped with three bypass diodes,” a company spokesperson told pv magazine.

The product can be purchased for €699-951.00 ($736.52-1,000), according to the company's website.

When not used as a tabletop, the table panel can be tilted to 20, 30 or 35 degrees for energy generation. Its activity can then be tracked via an app, remotely, as the table transmits the data via Wi-Fi. The table measures 173 cm x 114 cm x 84 cm and is suitable for up to eight people.

“Our solar modules are TÜV certified for mechanical stress, including 2400Pa wind load and 5400Pa snow load,” the company said. “However, single-point stress can damage the module and hail.”

Researchers led by the German University of Technology in Oman have looked into the effect of dust accumulation on PV systems and claim to have identified an optimal cleaning cycle in economic terms.

The scientists have conducted the research on an experimental setup located in an area next to their campus. “The research might be valid to countries with dry weather, humidity during summer, and high temperature,” the research's corresponding author, Ali Al Humairi, told pv magazine. 

“Photovoltaic energy is considered the most viable renewable energy source in the Middle East and North Africa region due to the high solar irradiation level and the number of clear sky days during the year,” the group said. “However, environmental factors such as dust limit the optimum utilization of the source.”

The experimental setup included two identical strings of nine PV modules connected in series, with one string being dry-cleaned daily and the other not. The 5.85 kW ground-mounted system was south-oriented and had a tilt of 17 degrees. The modules were based on polycrystalline cells, and each had a peak power of 325 W. The system included an inverter with 98.5% efficiency.

The observation of electrical and weather parameters began in November 2020 and ended in April 2021. “The experiment was conducted in the winter and spring seasons, which generally have less soiling rate and air contamination,” the researchers explained.

Comparing the cleaned string to the non-cleaned string, the academics found that dust led to up to a 28% reduction in the PV current performance and up to a 24.2% reduction in the PV power. Overall, the average difference in the current performance was 14%, and in PV output it was calculated at 11%.

“The difference between the uncleaned and the cleaned modules’ output current has increased exponentially during this period,” they said regarding the current. “In November, the difference in current is about 2%, which increased with time; in December and January, it is about 5% and 10%, respectively. The momentum intensity slightly dropped in February and recorded a difference of 18%. This was followed by a less momentum increment in March and April, resulting in a difference of 22% and 28%, respectively.”

As for the PV power output, they found no substantial effect in the first three months, with the difference being 0.1% in November, 1.9% in December, and 7.7% in January. However, it was much more noticeable in the next three months – with a 14.7% difference in February, 19.3% in March, and 24.2% in April.

For its economic analysis, the team used a fixed rate tariff of $0.11 per kWh. The cleaning rate was set at $1.30 per hour per worker, and according to the paper, one person could clean the whole system in one hour. Using this data, they have found the recommended cleaning interval to be once every one or 1.5 months, resulting in 8 to 12 cleaning cycles per year.

The group presented its findings in the paper “Experimental Investigation Of The Soiling Effect On The PV Systems Performance And The Cleaning Intervals In Oman,” published in Solar Energy Advances. It also included scientists from the Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat University, and Germany’s Duisburg Essen University.

“The effect of the accumulated dust was evident in the third month of the experimental period, indicating the necessity of conducting a cleaning cycle for fewer than three months to avoid losses,” the researchers concluded. “However, the results could vary depending on the location, season, geographical and meteorological conditions.”