99 MW DC/88 MW AC Dugald River Solar Farm (DRSF) is located in Mount Isa, Queensland

184,000 solar panels

contracted to supply power to mining group MMG, Mount Isa Mines (MIM) and New Century, firmed up by gas from APA’s Diamantina Power Station located nearby

providing its Dugald River Mine with around 1/3rd of its electricity needs and helping it reduce its carbon footprint

firmed by nearby gas plant

32-year lease with the Queensland government for the project site

Link

Governor Justice vetoed House Bill 5528, aiming to increase utility-scale solar project capacity in West Virginia, citing potential harm to the coal industry

“Really and truly, I believe that what is going on from the higher-ups that are incentivized to try and shove coal to the background”

“it is very important that we are careful not to cripple our great coal-fired energy industry in the process”

House Bill 5528 would have lifted the limit on utility-scale solar project size from 50 MW to 100 MW.

coal-fired electric power plants accounted for 89% of West Virginia’s total electricity net generation, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Hydroelectric power and wind energy contributed 7%, and natural gas provided about 4%

0.08% of all electricity in the state comes from solar power

Link

will require annual additions to grow from 473 GW in 2023 to over 1.1 TW annually between 2024 and 2030

Annual investments too must increase from $570 billion in 2023 to $1,550 billion on an average between 2024 and 2030 to achieve an additional 7.2 TW renewable additions.

Link

plans to source high-quality silica quartz for the polysilicon fab from the North Queensland quartz and silicon mining project proposed by Solquartz

AUD 7.8 billion ($5.1 billion) Project Green Poly

country’s 1st integrated mine-to-manufacturing polysilicon supply chains,

factory is proposed to be powered by a large-scale solar and storage project

expects to create around 4,400 local jobs during construction and operation period of the facility. It will have a functional life of 30 years or more. 

Link

1.2 GW annual capacity, it will be equipped to roll out over 2.5 million solar panels/year

GIGA ONE is the 1st factory for Nordcell that aims to build a vertically integrated production covering all 4 primary stages of solar panel production, namely silicon, ingot and wafer, cells and panels. 

green-energy powered solar panels at its artificial intelligence (AI)- driven automation and state-of-the-art fab will be of high quality and competitively priced

Link

prototype cells house an energy density of 720 Wh/kg – more than double other cells currently being integrated into passenger EVs in China

improves the migration ability of charged particles inside the cathode by building an efficient ion and electron transmission network, and uses self-developed interface flexible layer materials to effectively reduce the interface impedance while also improving the interface stability

120 Ah solid-state battery cell

breakthroughs pertain specifically to ultra-thin and dense composite oxide solid electrolytes, high-capacity advanced positive and negative electrode materials, and an integrated molding process

could offer over 1,300 mile range

Link

BYD’s most affordable Seagull EV, starting $9,700 (69,800 yuan)

30.08 kWh and 38.88 kWh Blade Battery options, good for 190 mi (305 km) and 252 mi (405 km) CLTC range

launched the new Seagull in China with three trims: Active, Free, and Flying, priced between 69,800 yuan ($9,700) and 85,800 yuan ($12,000).

base Seagull model features a 190 mi (305 km) CLTC range, a 10.1″ rotating center screen, DiLink intelligent connection

nickname “Lamborghini Mini,” local reports claim, as former Lamborghini designer Wolfgang Egger led the EV’s design

Link

510MW phase one of the Nova Power Bank will be complete this summer, with another 110MW coming online in autumn and the final 60MW in 2025

43-acre project is on the former site of Calpine’s Inland Empire legacy power plant, which it decommissioned in late 2022

didn’t reveal the capacity of the project but said that it could power 680,000 homes for four hours, implying it has a 4-hour duration, as the vast majority of California projects do. That would make it 2,720MWh

slightly smaller than the two largest operational BESS projects in the world, Moss Landing (3,000MWh) and Edwards & Sanborn (3,272MWh)

BYD battery units

An aerial view of the site currently, showing the majority of BESS containers in place. Image: Calpine Corporation.

Link

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successful closing of Quinbrook Valley of Fire Fund with $600 million in capital commitments from leading US and European institutional investors

acquires 51% stake in landmark Gemini Solar+Storage Project and Valley of Fire development portfolio

690 MWac of solar + a 1,416 MWh battery storage facility, Gemini

Valley of Fire portfolio is made up of seven projects totaling over 2.65GW of solar PV capacity with the potential to add a further 1.5GW of battery storage capacity

PJT Partners LP acted as the lead financial advisor on the transaction. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to Quinbrook, while Proskauer Rose LLP served as legal counsel to Blackstone Strategic Partners.

The lead investor in the Quinbrook Valley of Fire Fund is Blackstone Strategic Partners.

cornerstone investor Ares Management Infrastructure Secondaries funds

Link

solar manufacturer Meyer Burger has raised CHF206.75 million (US$228 million) following the closure of its rights offering

funds, which were provided through the issuance of 20,144,423,886 new shares, will go towards Meyer Burger’s US expansion, where it is building a 2GW module production facility in Arizona and a 2GW cell manufacturing plant in Colorado Springs

97.54% of the available shares were taken up through subscription rights offered to existing shareholders

company’s largest shareholder, Sentis Capital, purchased 3.276 million shares at CHF32.7 million (US$36 million). This represented all of its subscription rights and an additional 1.186 million offered shares.

Link

study is unique in the range of tandem technologies assessed, including two-terminal (2T), three-terminal (3T) devices, and two types of four-terminal (4T) tandem devices, stacked 4T and spectral splitting 4T, although the latter is not discussed in-depth

For each category of tandem solar cell, the team looks at the technology at the cell level, scaling level, cell-to-module, manufacturing, reliability, costs, environmental impact topics, and commercialization risks, with a focus on challenges and opportunities

technical challenges as well as business-centered challenges

benefits and drawbacks to all architectures

4T configurations have the potential to leverage the ability to manufacture top and bottom junctions separately, giving it design and process flexibility advantages

given the amount of effort going into 2T architectures, they may also reach the market on a similar timeline

researchers provide a list of twelve physical and economic needs to be addressed if the technology is to reach 2% of market share by 2030

we are optimistic that the next 6 years will yield significant advances toward tandem commercialization

Link

On 3 April, Russian forces targeted a Ukrainian solar power plant for the first time.

not an attack within the combat zone, but rather a strike on a facility located deep within the country

Link

state could move to potentially eliminate setback standards and restrict local governments from passing certain ordinances, which would prohibit local control to pass temporary moratoriums on new utility projects to give local governments time to review and update codes

San Miguel County currently has a moratorium in place on new utility projects as it works to update its regulations and garner public input.

really does beg the question to me of what problem are we solving here by trying to have some state overreach into this area,” Flenniken said, “when counties, cities and other local governments are working to find codes that make sense for their communities that are reflective of their values

Link

largest BESS system integrator in China, targeting the US energy storage market

Beijing HyperStrong Technology

largest system integrator in China, it claims, and one of the top five in the world by deployments according to S&P Global

Last year it deployed 10GWh in China and this year expects to do 20GWh

integrator definition:

Hyperstrong buys battery cells and integrates them into a range of BESS solutions including DC and AC blocks along and building its own BESS components like containers, inverters and an energy management system (EMS) platform

firm’s latest generation BESS solution is a 5MWh 20-foot DC block offering 1-4 hour durations, and it claims 10GWh of orders from outside China already

Link

new electric vehicle battery pack with a 1.5 million kilometre (932,057), 15 year warranty

will be using the long life battery packs in their buses and heavy vehicles. Yutong, one of China’s largest bus manufacturers

lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery will be able to cater to different market segments, including buses, light trucks and heavy trucks

long-life battery will also have zero degradation in the first 1,000 cycles

battery with 500 km (310 m) of range would have zero capacity degradation for the first half million kilometres

Link

541 projects are being funded by the Inflation Reduction Act through the Rural Energy for America Program

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $120 million in renewable energy projects in 44 states

Since Biden took office, USDA has invested more than $1.8 billion through REAP in over 6,000 renewable energy and energy efficiency improvement

One of the awards went to Darr Grain in Nebraska, which will install three 15-kilowatt (kW) wind turbines at a grain storage facility. This project is expected to save the business $9,700 in electrical costs per year and generate more than 138,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per year. This represents about 77 percent of the company’s energy use

Link

Australian energy major AGL and solar cell technology innovator and manufacturer SunDrive Solar have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the development of a commercial-scale PV manufacturing facility in the New South Wales (NSW) Hunter region

agreement follows Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s announcement of $1 billion (USD 650 million) of subsidies, grants and other support to increase Australia’s role in the global solar manufacturing supply chain

Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), which will deliver the program, said this could include polysilicon, ingots and wafers, cells, module assembly, and other parts of the solar supply chain, including solar glass, advanced deployment technology, or other aspects identified through industry consultation

September 2021, SunDrive revealed it had achieved a record-breaking power conversion efficiency of 25.54% for a silver-free heterojunction solar cell

Link

nation’s cumulative solar module manufacturing capacity stood at 64.5 GW on Dec. 31, 2023

solar cell capacity reached 5.8 GW

Gujarat accounted for 46.1% of the country’s cumulative PV module manufacturing capacity, while Telangana accounted for 39% of the solar cell production capacity

Monocrystalline modules accounted for 67.5% of the country’s module production capacity, followed by polycrystalline, tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon), and thin film modules

60% of the installed module manufacturing capacity was equipped to manufacture solar modules in M10 and G12 wafer sizes

imported 16.2 GW of modules in 2023, 158% up from 10.3 GW in 2022

exported 4.8 GW of solar modules in 2023, 204% up compared to 1.6 GW in 2022

solar cell imports in 2023 stood at 15.6 GW, 169% up year-on-year

Solar cell exports reached 286.3 MW in 2023, up 2,765% from 10 MW in 2022

projects that India’s PV module manufacturing capacity will surpass 150 GW and cell capacity will reach over 75 GW by 2026

Link

Renewable energy covered 91% of total electricity demand in Portugal in March

Hydroelectric energy had the largest share at 47%, followed by wind at 31%, solar at 6%, and biomass at 5%

third consecutive month that renewables exceeded 80% of total national demand, following 88% in February and 81% in January

In 2023, renewable energy was responsible for 61% of electricity consumption

In October, Portugal’s mix was 100% renewable for an entire weekend

March, electricity consumption grew by 1.6% year on year, or 2.9%

natural gas market recorded a year-on-year drop of 5.8% in March

Link

proposing $6.1 billion in transmission projects, mainly to help deliver offshore wind to customers

Transmission projects to access clean energy resources total about $4.6 billion and are all in Pacific Gas & Electric’s service territory. Reliability-driven projects total about $1.5 billion.

CAISO said the draft plan will provide access to more than 38 GW of new solar, including in Nevada and Arizona, as well as 21 GW of geothermal capacity, mainly in the Imperial Valley and southern Nevada.

plan would also allow more than 5.6 GW of wind imports from Idaho, Wyoming and New Mexico and more than 4.7 GW of offshore wind off the state’s northern coast.

Link

“A survey of 1,000 homeowners conducted by Aurora found 44% said it’s hard to know if an installation company is trustworthy”

figure has doubled in last year

In January 2024, we surveyed 1,000 U.S. adult (18+) homeowners who expressed interest in solar

Given that 10% of homeowners indicated they wanted to electrify their home before considering solar, our findings point to some homeowners viewing heat pumps as a first step to fully reaping the benefits of solar.

17% of respondents had solar, interestingly, 22% had heat pumps, and 15% had an electric vehicle (EV)

10% of homeowners had battery storage

37% of homeowners felt solar panels are more valuable when paired with whole-home electrification

half of homeowners (51%) said they believe solar is a good investment

75% of homeowners that do not have solar (but are interested) said overall system and installation costs are a big concern

54% said specifically that interest rates are too high

15% of homeowners said they were paying for their PV system through a leasing program

while only 59% of homeowners under 30 years old claimed overall costs are a concern, 76% of respondents over 30 were concerned about costs

30% of homeowners are hesitant to adopt solar panels because they don’t know if their home gets enough sun

half (51%) of homeowners are familiar with the term “Inflation Reduction Act.” Yet, only 5% of respondents said they were motivated to purchase solar due to tax incentives.

In 2023, 22% of homeowners said they were unable to find a trustworthy solar company

In 2024, the numbers doubled: 44% of respondents said it is hard to determine which solar companies are trustworthy

that in 2022 almost 80% of solar professionals said EV adoption often led to interest in solar. In 2023 it was more of the same, with 78% citing that EV adoption was leading to interest in solar.

85% of professionals reported having trouble meeting solar demand, compared to 90% in last year’s study

in 2022 supply chain issues were still at the front of the line at 28%, in 2023 they were cited by only 9% of respondents

main problem in 2023 was homeowners being reluctant to commit to quotes, at 38%. This is not only a huge jump from the previous year’s 22%, but is almost four times higher than the second most popular issue, struggling to find enough qualified employees (10%)

Top reasons homeowners backed out of committing to a solar project: Overall project costs/Poor return on investment/Concerns over moving or selling proper

Link

Large-scale production of Pero-Si tandems in the future is expected to use Si wafers thinner than 100 μm for both economic and sustainability reasons

We forecast that Si bottom cells for mass produced Pero-Si tandems will be based on wafers thinner than 100 μm

In our work we study challenges and opportunities related to this likely wafer thinning for the performance of the SHJ bottom cells operating in Perovskite shadow

We study SHJ cells prepared on 80 μm thick wafers in comparison to the reference cells based on 135 μm thick wafers addressing two issues: passivation and light management

We show that major wafer thickness reduction of 40% turns to only approx. 0.35%_abs loss in the bottom cell efficiency

minor loss can be reduced even further using highly technological ITO/MgF₂/Ag back reflector and MgF₂ anti-reflection coating

These findings suggest that adopting 80 μm wafers is a viable approach for developing mass-produced Pero-Si tandems.

Link

must have a silica concentration of more than 99.9%, against less than 80% for construction material

high-quality sand is scarce: of the 50bn or so tonnes extracted each year, less than 1% can be used to produce regular glass. A tiny fraction of that is pure enough for solar panels.

likely to be a surge in production, especially in sectors that Xi Jinping sees as important to China’s future, such as lithium-ion batteries, electric cars and solar panels, many of which require vast amounts of sand

Prices are already hovering near record highs; last year they came to around $55 a tonne

price of high-quality sand has risen twice as much as that of lower-quality stuff over the past five years, owing to the expansion of green manufacturing and the growing popularity of smartphones

manufacturers are now looking for alternatives. One option is to refine sand used for regular glass, which tends to be 99.5% silica. The problem is that doing so is itself expensive.

black market, estimated to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year, is likely to grow. Australia and Brazil are perhaps best placed to profit from the legal boom,

Interesting, inside the USA, sand for the purpose of fracking is up as well over the years.

Link

being held for stealing $3,600 in solar panel hardware then turning it in for a Facebook reward, a transient Cheyenne woman could face up to 20 years in prison — as could her two alleged accomplices

Two of the three claimed they found the solar hardware while dumpster diving.

owner of Colorado Solar Co., Justin Baker, contacted the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office Feb. 27, saying someone had stolen $3,600 worth of solar equipment from his customers at their home the night before

equipment had been on a pallet in front of the home, placed there by a forklift, in multiple cardboard boxes

Baker allegedly heard three different stories from the suspects about how they came to acquire the items.

She allegedly told him they found the equipment in a dumpster in West Winds Mobile Home Park, then changed her story and said she and Stricker found the goods in a dumpster in the Willow Pond subdivision. Next, Chapman interviewed Stricker, who said he found the items at a Loaf n’ Jug on South Greeley Highway in a dumpster with a friend named Curtis. He said they were dumpster diving and looking for food, the affidavit says.

charged with two variations of felony theft, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines

Link

Shade from the solar panels is significantly reducing blueberry yield. Bushes planted in shaded portions underneath solar panels produced just 9 percent of the blueberries compared to bushes planted in rows between panels.

Wild blueberries “can handle some shade, because when they’re grown in the woods they are shaded and they still grow,” Calderwood said. But when sunlight levels dip too low, blueberries put more energy into producing leaves rather than fruit, so they can catch what little light may filter through to the understory.

Bushes with more leaves require more pruning, Calderwood said, noting that the shaded areas also saw lots of weeds and a high incidence of disease.

A principal aim of the study was to determine what impact installing the solar panels had on the blueberry plants. To measure this, researchers worked with BlueWave to designate three areas with varying levels of construction precautions.

In the “standard” area, no precautions were taken; in the “mindful” area, construction and foot traffic were limited, and equipment could only rotate 90 degrees; in the “careful” area, protective coverings were placed over the blueberry plants, with even more limits on equipment rotation and foot traffic.

“We didn’t see any statistical difference between those treatments, meaning that the blueberry recovered well,” Calderwood said.

BlueWave is already using the Rockport results to guide a blueberry project in Massachusetts. The company plans to introduce wider rows and build solar panels on an axis that allows them to pivot and track the sun throughout the day, letting in more light for plants.

Robertson-DuBois said building a solar farm suited for agriculture is more expensive than other solar projects: It requires more cable to space the modules farther apart and taller mounts to give farmers room.

Link

15. ReNew Energy Global Plc (NASDAQ:RNW) Market Cap as of March 12: $2.42 billion

14. Clearway Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CWEN); Market Cap as of March 12: $2.55 billion

13. Risen Energy Co Ltd (SHE:300118); Market Cap as of March 12: $2.66 billion

12. Shanghai Aiko Solar Energy Co Ltd (SHA:600732); Market Cap as of March 12: $4.04 billion

11. SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:SEDG); Market Cap as of March 12: $4.12 billion

10. GCL Technology Holdings Limited (OTC:GCPEF); Market Cap as of March 12: $4.44 billion

9. Xinyi Solar Holdings Limited (OTC:XISHY); Market Cap as of March 12: $7.31 billion

8. Nextracker Inc. (NASDAQ:NXT); Market Cap as of March 12: $8.21 billion

7. Trina Solar Co Ltd (SHA:688599); Market Cap as of March 12: $8.22 billion

6. Brookfield Renewable Corporation (NYSE:BEPC); Market Cap as of March 12: $9.18 billion

5. JA Solar Technology Co Ltd (SHE:002459); Market Cap as of March 12: $9.20 billion

4. Enphase Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENPH); Market Cap as of March 12: $16.43 billion

3. First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR); Market Cap as of March 12: $17.03 billion

2. Adani Green Energy Ltd (NSE:ADANIGREEN); Market Cap as of March 12: $37.42 billion

1. NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE); Market Cap as of March 12: $117.29 billion

Link

novel modular floating PV (FPV) solution to assess the behavior of offshore, multi-connected modules under combined wave-wind conditions

“FPV is a complex multi-body system under the coupling action of wind, wave, current, and other multi-physical fields,” the study noted. “It is therefore of immense importance to develop robust engineering methodologies and models to design FPV systems applied to offshore environments.”

as the number of modules increases, motion responses become more pronounced, and the 2 x 2 platform experienced the most significant pitch response of the configurations studied

additional movement generated by hinged connections resulted in “non-negligible” dynamic response for multi-body FPV systems, while systems using fixed connections showed no significant dynamic response

mooring tension of systems with hinged connections was greater than that of systems with fixed connections

created the FPV platforms using cylindrical pontoons and heave plates

study emphasizes that heave response is influenced by the ratio of mass to stiffness

team recommends an installation angle of at least 15 degrees for a multi-body FPV system, to reduce both motion and structural responses

Link

new tariffs will range from €0.153 (0.17)/kWh for installations below 3 kW in size to €0.117/kWh for arrays ranging in size from 100 kW to 500 kW

French renewable energy association, Syndicat des énergies renouvelables (SER), said that the new provisions will reduce tariffs less than expected

rates for PV systems of up to 9 kW will be lowered by 4.4% instead of 14.2%, while those for installations between 100 kW and 500 kW in size will be reduced by 3.1% instead of 13%

tariffs for systems ranging in size from 9 kW to 100 kW will be reduced by 1.4%, as originally planned

Link

The world’s largest solar panel manufacturer for 2023 was Jinko Solar.

78.5 GW of global shipments

shipments increased by 76.4% year on year

turnover of CNY 118.68 billion ($16.72 billion), up 42.8% from 2022

net profit of CNY 3.45 billion

gross margin at 16.0%, compared to 14.8% in 2022

shipment in the fourth quarter was 26.3 GW

outlook for 2024, JinkoSolar said it hopes to ship between 100 GW and 110 GW

production capacity for mono wafers, solar cells and solar modules to reach 120 GW, 110 GW and 130 GW, respectively, by the end of 2024

By then, we believe mass-produced N-type cell efficiency will have reached 26.5%

end of the fourth quarter, we became the first module manufacturer in the world to have delivered a total of 210 GW solar modules, covering over 190 countries and regions

Link

 DAH Solar has developed new TOPCon solar modules with a frameless frontside to improve drainage and allow rain to wash away dust

“It is also capable of preventing snow or sand accumulation, which may ensure an annual power generation increase of 6% to 15%.”

four versions, ranging from 570 W to 585 W nominal power, with a power conversion efficiency of 22.07% to 22.65%

double-glass panels measure 2,278 mm x 1,134 x 32 mm and weigh 32 kg

15-year product warranty and a 30-year power output guarantee

degradation in the first year is purportedly 1% and the 30-year end power output is guaranteed to be no less than 87.4% of the nominal output power

Link

consortium to develop the world’s first commercial-scale seaweed farm located within an offshore wind farm

10-hectare farm is planned to become operational in autumn 2024 when it will be deployed and seeded, with the first harvest expected to be in spring 2025

seaweed absorbs nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon dioxide and produces oxygen, thereby being part of the solution to climate change and ocean acidification. In doing this, it produces valuable biomass with a wide range of uses from pharmaceuticals to animal feed to fertilisers

Link

This is a longer article, and you should probably read it. Understand that there are plenty of people that will do plenty of things you might consider immoral for money or ideology. They will lie, they will cheat, they will steal.

The report found that while wind foes circulated voluminous studies, white papers and regulatory comments that gave the impression of rigor, they relied on fake experts and cherry-picked or misrepresented data — mainstays of the larger climate-denial movement.

The most effective protections would involve stricter regulations on commercial fishing, according to Kenney. But, he says, ​“the fishing industry fights tooth and nail every step of the way.”

Link

New Zealand is one of the first countries in the world to reach an electrification tipping point

combination of EVs and electric appliances are cheaper over the lifetime of the machines, even with higher upfront costs or a 5.5 per cent interest rate for finance

homes currently using gas or LPG appliances and petrol vehicles could save more than $1,000 per year if they electrify and get their power from a combination of rooftop solar, home battery, and the existing electricity grid no

fully electrifying a home and vehicles could save $1500 to $5000 a year with annual GHG emissions being significantly lower, and that electricity prices from solar can be around one third the cost /kWh when purchased from the grid

overall energy use would fall with electrification to less than half of what an average household uses today as petrol, diesel, gas and wood are avoided. But electricity use would be two to three times as high.

Cromwell, South Island, cherry farm is saving about $60,000 in diesel costs a year by using 20 new electric vehicles, including a tractor

electricity use is nine-times higher than the previous farmer of his land, but use at peak times has not increased so network upgrades weren’t needed, and rooftop solar provides “significant” amounts of energy

Link

China Photovoltaic Industry Association’s (CPIA) roadmap for Chinese solar industry sees exponential manufacturing growth across the industrial chain

The country will increase the production of polysilicon, wafers, cells and modules by around 50% this year

The industry employed 3.53 million people in 2022, and the numbers will likely grow to between 4.875 million and 5.808 million by 2025

solar module manufacturers are gearing up to deliver more than 750 GW of modules in 2024, representing over 50% annual growth over the 499 GW they delivered in 2023

manufacturing industry produce 820 GW of solar cells, up from the 545 GW in 2023

Silicon wafer output is also expected to exceed 935 GW this year considering the expansion plans of leading companies in the space. Last year, the country rolled out close to 622 GW, having gone up 67.5% YoY

delivering 1.43 million tons of polysilicon last year with a 67% annual increase, China is looking at over 2.1 million tons this year

forecasts China to install up to 220 GW AC new PV additions with land constraints and grid capacity as the major challenges, after growing to 216.30 GW AC in 2023

average thickness of polysilicon wafers in 2023 was 170 μm. While the CPIA does not see any change to this value this year, it believes it can change in the later years

Installed close to 22.6 GW of new domestic energy storage capacity with an average storage time of 2.1 hours.

As regulatory support for storage builds up parallel to technological improvements bringing down its costs, China may exceed 31 GW capacity for this technology in 2025

Link

Chinese Link

Germany’s emissions fell by record 10.1% in 2023

Europe’s biggest economy is trying to cut their emissions by 65 per cent, compared with 1990, by 2030. These latest stats put them on track to reach a cut of almost 64 per cent by that date.

country’s environmental protection agency said that Germany emitted about 673 million tons of greenhouse gases in 2023, a decline of 76 million tons or 10.1%, compared with the previous year. It was the strongest decline since 1990

Germany was sixth in the world for how much new solar it installed

Link

It’s a complex economy right now though…

German economy dodges recession despite shrinking 0.3% in 2023.

“It is worrying that the German economy has hardly grown at all since the outbreak of coronavirus,” Commerzbank’s chief economist Joerg Kraemer said. “This is rare and brings back memories of the years following the bursting of the stock market bubble at the start of the millennium.”

Link

Longi plans to trim as much as 30% of its workforce

last year totaled about 80,000 at its peak

employment at Longi had surged from the 4,068 people it had in 2012, when the manufacturer went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The company reported 60,601 of employees at the end of 2022, and hiring continued well into 2023, according to the people

factories using older technologies have seen more job cuts than other units, some of the people said

company had about $7.4 billion in cash and equivalents at the end of 2022

previous efforts to cut costs fall short, including the cancelation of free afternoon tea, shrinking budgets for business trips and being told to only print in black-and-white unless approved to do otherwise by supervisors

the financial pressures sent its net income plunging 44% to 2.52 billion yuan ($350 million) in the third quarter of 2023

Company President Li Zhenguo said in October that the firm “made a mistake” in not being aggressive enough in price competition with peers and was likely to miss its annual shipment target

company’s shares have fallen about 70% from their peak in 2021

Link

The best way to preserve the status quo is to destroy the machinery that promises a change to existing ways.

European Union, which doesn’t impose tariffs on photovoltaic imports, installed nearly twice as much solar last year as the US, and more than seven times as much as India, despite weather that’s far less suited for the technology

Beijing can’t stop the sun from shining on Chinese-made solar panels in Germany — but Moscow really did cut the flow of gas to Europe

Local content requirements and tariff barriers on solar panels, designed to build up domestic manufacturing industries, have operated in many places (including India, the US, South Africa, and Indonesia) as soft bans that have pushed up costs, slowed deployments, and favored incumbent fossil-fired power generation and emissions.

An acceleration in trade wars will only slow our path to zero.

Link

 report from Clean Energy Associates (CEA) outlined that by 2025, global manufacturing of lithium-ion battery (LIB) cells is expected to triple from 2022 levels.

collapsing lithium prices has led to a cooling-off in demand for chemical alternatives to the mainstream nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) and lithium-ferro-phosphate (LFP) chemistries

more evolutionary chemistries like lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) may find their way into electric vehicles and energy storage sectors as early as 2025

negative impact on commercialization for new technologies like sodium-ion batteries

Link

Due to higher electricity rates and the declining incentive structure of the SMART program, some applications may receive an incentive payment rate of $0.00.  Further information on which blocks this is occurring in is available here.  In these instances, the Department advises solar installers work with their customers to evaluate the benefits of participating directly in the RPS market.

The design of the SMART program was to keep the return of investment of solar at a certain rate in order to motivate installations. It was structured in a manner that as the price of electricity goes up, the incentive goes down. The price of electricity has definitely increased in Massachusetts since the program was put in place in later 2018.

Recently, the state updated the SMART program’s documentation, noting that most behind the meter solar power projects no longer earn an incentive. The incentive for a rooftop solar power project between 25 kWac and 250 kWac in Eversource – one of the highest incentive regions of the state – is now $0.00000. Lots of zeros, but that’s how electricity is accounted for.

That we are now at a stage where the price of electricity is high enough that the SMART program no longer generate revenue, says we might be at a tipping point in New England.

portfolio consists of 92 photovoltaic (PV) solar power plants with a total capacity of 73 MWp

financing of over EUR 73 million (USD 80m) to fund the development and construction

large part of the profolio, 70%, is focused on self-consumption

75% is related to large enterprises in commerce and industry, while 68% of the projects will be located in the northern part of the country in a sign that self-consumption is increasingly linked to electricity prices

Link

Rt Rev Ruth Worsley, has voiced support for All Saints Church in Bedworth, as it plans to install solar panels on its roof despite its Grade II listed status

late-victorian All Saints Church, built between 1888 and 1890, holds significant historical value and is part of Bedworth’s conservation area

local council’s planners are hesitant due to historical preservation concerns. They have stressed the need to prioritise historical preservation, citing potential harm to the building and its surroundings.

proposed installation of 68 solar panels on the church’s south-facing roof promises an 18 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions annually and a 40 per cent decrease in electricity bills

Link

company found $177.7 million in preventable annualized revenue losses

dataset comprises 125 GW of PV assets, spanning 41 countries

found average losses of $4,696 per MW, though losses varied regionally

Since 2019, the average losses from underperformance have increased from a 1.61% average power loss, to 4.47% in 2023. Raptor Maps said this equates to an internal rate of return at loss of at least 190 basis points in a 100 MW solar asset.

2023 survey, the company found “many operators identified preventative maintenance visual inspections as a significant source of time wastage, and a large number of respondents also identified validating nuisance alarms as another way time is wasted.”

Inverter faults, string outages, and combiner faults contributed power losses of 1.91%, 0.90%, and 0.81% respectively. Instances of tracker issues have also risen from 0.26% in 2022 to 0.46% in 2023.

module performance has improved slightly, with losses decreasing by about 12% year-over-year

Link

Power Electronics plans to invest €300 million ($328 million) to expand its inverter production capacity in Spain and the United States

current production capacity is 30 GW, and it will increase manufacturing capacity in the United States by more than 20 GW by 2026

factory will cover an area of 174,015 square meters and “will be designed with the latest manufacturing and assembly technologies to serve as an optimal center for the manufacturing and distribution of its products throughout the country,”

plan also foresees the completion of a new plant in Llíria, Spain, for the Electric Mobility division

Link

U.S. electricity prices rose 3.6% over the last 12 months, outstripping the broader inflation rate of 3.2%

Transmission costs and volatile fuel prices are the primary drivers of higher power bills

Residential customers will pay about 16.23 cents/kWh in 2025, up from 15.98 cents/kWh last year

EIA said it expected 2025 residential prices to average 16.11 cents/kWh in 2025. For this year, the government forecaster expects prices to average 15.87 cents/kWh

Link

In most analyzed markets, there were the highest daily photovoltaic energy production levels ever registered for a March month

list starts with the German market, which produced 249 GWh on March 8, which is also the highest value since mid?September. The Spanish market generated 137 GWh on two days in a row, on March 5 and 6, a level last seen in the summer, on August 31. The French market generated 85 GWh on March 7, which is also the highest value since the end of September. The list is rounded off by Portugal, where solar energy production reached 13 GWh on March 5, slightly below the records registered in February, but still the highest ever registered in a March month

Link

SmartestEnergy said on Thursday that the “significant long-term” power purchase agreement (PPA) will see it source electricity from the 400MW stage 1 of the New England solar farm to onsell to its customers.

Acen Australia near Uralla in New South Wales, stands to be the biggest operating solar plant in Australia when its full capacity of 720 MW across two stages is complete

shares its location with more than 2,000 merino sheep, a number that is expected to triple over the course of this year

for now, title of largest, has only completed the first 400 MW stage and so has to share top billing with Neoen Australia’s Western Downs solar farm in Queensland

Link

replaced six diesel power stations with four hybrid solar, battery and gas systems

new systems, which have a combined capacity of 82MW, under a seven-year build, own and operate agreement

combined capacity of 28MW of solar, 11.5MW of battery energy storage, and 42.5MW of high-efficiency gas generation

four hybrid power systems will displace 38 million litres of diesel each year

based around grid forming battery technology

hybrid power system deployed at Westgold’s Tuckabianna facility was fully commissioned in August 2023 and has since achieved an average solar penetration of 31% between November 2023 and January 2024, peaking at 36.9% in December

Link

biggest single energy consumer in Australia, Tomalgo smelter – with annual demand of more than 8 terawatt hours

majority owner saying nuclear is out of the question because it is too slow and too expensive

first steps towards a new tender will be launched, “Next week, we’re launching an RFP (request for proposals) for Tomago”

‘very, very keen to go down a very similar process of assessing what projects exist in New South Wales’

Further details were not released, but it is likely to be similar in scope to the 5 GW of new capacity required by Rio Tinto for its Gladstone smelters and refineries.

Link

Over 5,600 electric or fuel cell medium- and heavy-duty trucks were sold in China in the final month of the year

10% of the total number of those class vehicle sales

all types of commercial EV sales in China to over 330,000 for the year

Light commercial EVs in China took 16% of the market in December

hydrogen fuel cells are finally making their presence felt, with over 1,000 fuel cell-powered heavy trucks sold in December

battery-swappable vehicles sold in the country remains a niche technology for passenger vehicles, however almost half of all heavy battery electric trucks sold last year in China had swappable batteries. That’s up from 34% in 2021.

Link

will require that electric utilities before the state’s Department of Public Utilities (DPU) show that they have evaluated GETs, advanced reconductoring, and storage as a transmission asset when making decisions about capital allocation in upgrading the grid

study found that grid congestion between New England and New York has been so severe that during one extreme weather event – the ‘Bomb Cyclone’ storm of 2018 – each additional gigawatt (GW) of transmission capacity could have saved between $30 and $40 million dollars in lost economic productivity

Link

average price paid for an EV in February was $52,314, down from a revised $54,863 in January

EV transaction prices in February were lower year-over-year by 12.8%, an accelerating decline compared to January, when prices were lower year-over-year by 11.6%

prices for the Model Y last month, estimated at $49,363, were the lowest on record and were lower versus February 2023 by 16.2%

Model 3 transaction prices last month, at $43,614, were lower year-over-year by 12%

important to acknowledge that EVs remain priced above mainstream non-luxury vehicles by nearly 19%

Link

SPAN Panel 48 – The largest addition to the SPAN Panel family, the SPAN Panel 48 is geared towards new home construction, enabling builders to avoid expensive infrastructure costs when building all-electric or future electric homes, with best-in-class energy management, storage and charging capabilities of SPAN Panel 32.

SPAN Panel 32 – Currently available and deployed across the U.S., SPAN Panel 32 serves both the retrofit and new home construction categories, providing software-defined, whole-home backup management when paired with one of several compatible energy storage systems, as well as reducing the costs of electrification.

SPAN Panel 16/24 – Focused on retrofit electrification, SPAN Panel 16/24 is a field-adaptable, smaller Panel form factor that enables SPAN PowerUp functionality for major electric load additions, reducing both hardware and labor costs compared to larger panel form factors.

SPAN Meter 8 – Designed to offer unparalleled capabilities when paired with smart meters, SPAN Meter 8 offers utility/grid operators advanced metering, submetering, demand flexibility and better utilization of the distribution infrastructure.

also a bigger 48-breaker panel coming for new homes

Link

22 GW of small modular reactor projects representing $176 billion in potential investment are in the works across the world

U.S. has nearly 4 GW in announced SMR projects in addition to almost 3 GW in early development or pre-development stages

Poland and Canada come in second and third, with around 2 GW each in planned capacity

Polish regulators recently approved plans to build up to 24 GE Hitachi BWRX-300 reactors at six sites across the country

Link

Invesco Solar ETF fell by 21% for January 2024, while the S&P 500 increased by 2% and the DJIA increased by 1%

top three solar stocks for the month of January 2024 were Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure plc, down 11%, and ReNew Energy Global Plc and Clearway Energy Inc., which both fell by 12%

Logistical challenges emerged within the solar market, potentially bolstering pricing dynamics. That, coupled with liquidity issues, seems to be causing unease in the solar industry

worst performers in January 2024 in the United States markets were Emeren Group Ltd, SunPower Corp., and Maxeon Solar Technologies, Ltd., which all fell 37%

module vendors are contemplating price elevation strategies, as security concerns in the Red Sea and a drought in the Panama Canal are presenting logistical hurdles that could additionally bolster pricing

Link

Jolywood said it has halted plans to set up a silicon metal plant and a polysilicon production facility in Gujiao, Shanxi province. The company originally unveiled the CNY 14 billion ($1.9 billion) plan in March 2022. It said it is halting the project due to current conditions in the upstream silicon PV market.

Link

100,000 metric tons of polysilicon can be used to manufacture about 40 GW of solar panels.

One million grams per metric tons, times 100,000 metric tons is 100 billion grams. At 2.5 grams of polysilicon per watt of solar power – that’s 40 billion watts, which is 40 gigawatts.

demonstrated that a light-duty passenger electric vehicle can be wirelessly charged at 100-kW with 96% efficiency using polyphase electromagnetic coupling coils with rotating magnetic fields

patented system transferred power to a Hyundai Kona EV across a five-inch airgap using electromagnetic fields

highest power density in the world for a wireless charging system for this class of vehicle

densities 8-10 times higher than conventional coil technology and can increase battery charge state by 50% in under 20 minutes

Link

compared with traditional virgin material aluminum module frames shipped from China, U.S.-made module frames made from recycled steel show a 90.4% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. In Germany, the frames have a 94.7% carbon advantage.

Boundless estimates the greenhouse gas footprint of Origami Solar’s steel module frames at 9.25 kilograms (kg) of carbon dioxide equivalent per 2 meter by 1 meter frame produced in the U.S.

“The estimated Fossil Energy Footprint of Origami Solar’s steel module frame is 71.8 megajoules (MJ) in the United States and 62.2 MJ in Germany per 2 by 1-meter frame, compared to 920 MJ for a conventional virgin aluminum frame produced in China using an extrusion production process,” said the report.

The company said the improved carbon embodiment would result in a reduction of 80 kg of emissions per module or 200 metric tons per MW.

Link

Construction has begun on a $1.35 billion polysilicon production facility in Oman

producing 100,000 metric tons of metallurgical silicon per year

Equal to roughly 40 GW of solar panel capacity/yr at 2.5 grams/watt

will occupy an area of 160,000 square meters

United Solar Polysilicon (FZC) is manufacturer

production process will involve pouring liquid metallic silicon from a furnace into molds, then cooling, casting, grinding and packing the ore for global export

billed the project as the first of its kind in the Middle East

in January, Chinese solar material manufacturer Shuangliang Eco-Energy Co announced it received a $58.3 million equipment order from United Solar Polysilicon (FZC) SPC and will supply polycrystalline silicon reduction furnaces, hydrogen production equipment, and refrigeration units for the plant

Link

fatal blaze started after a battery was compromised and immediately went into ‘thermal runaway’

Four people were inside the townhouse at Lake Macquarie when the fire broke out last Thursday. FRNSW said two occupants escaped but two died.

NSW Police declined to publicly identify the manufacturer of the battery involved in the incident

Link

Even on a carbon-heavy diet, heat pumps eliminate tons of emissions annually compared to other heating systems.

depending on the scenario and level of efficiency, heat pumps lower household annual energy emissions on average by 36% to 64% — or 2.5 to 4.4 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year per housing unit.

The team modeled the entire U.S. housing stock and found that, over the appliance’s expected lifetime of 16 years, switching to a heat-pump heater/​AC slashes emissions in every one of the contiguous 48 states.

Emissions savings tend to be higher in states with colder winters and heaters that run on fuel oil, such as Maine, according to the study.

RMI estimated that heat pump emissions prevented in that first year were 13% to 72% relative to gas-furnace emissions, depending on the state.

Link

BNEF predicts that China’s manufacturing capacity for solar modules and battery cells will be around double the level of global demand consistent with reaching net zero emissions by mid-century.

great news for the global race to net zero

but…”duplicating supply chains when the world is already awash with cheap equipment makes little economic sense”

“Then again, onshoring was never really about economics” (but politics)

“Cyclical overcapacity is a feature across the Chinese economy, from steel to lower-end semiconductors,” said clean energy research specialist BNEF in a new report. “But today’s surplus of clean-tech manufacturing is unprecedented.”

Chinese supply capacity is said to outstrip global demand for solar equipment, lithium-ion batteries, hydrogen electrolysers and wind turbine nacelles.

Link

As high costs of capital put pressure on project viability, smaller developers may be forced to sell projects, portfolios, or their entire platform as they seek liquidity or an outright exit.

FTI also expects and uptick in corporate renewables adoption as decarbonization and electrification continues to come to the forefront. It expects oil and gas players to actively invest in the sector.

Established renewable technologies like solar and wind comprised about 60% of deal volume, said FTI. Meanwhile, traditional nuclear energy M&A and “renewable” natural gas and biogas transactions increased, suggesting mainstream adoption for a once-niche market.

Link

1. Texas installed 6.5GW of new solar in 2023. The SEIA predicts that Texas will considerably outstrip the rest of the US over the next decade, installing around 100GW by 2034. Energy storage has also seen an uptick.
2. Residential installations also play a large part in California’s solar market, which added 6.2GW of capacity in 2023.
3. Florida installed 3.2GW of solar in 2023. This was led by the residential segment, which saw over 50,000 new systems installed.
4. Colorado came in fourth in 2023, adding 1.6GW of new solar generation capacity which the SEIA said was “nearly ten times more than it installed in 2022”.
5. Ohio was the fifth-highest solar installer in 2023, adding 1.3GW of its now-total 2.3GW of capacity last year. The SEIA said that this represents a 1,230% increase compared with 2022.

Link

“You have big developers talking about 30 GW in their pipeline…. Is that a good use of time and capital to be trying to manage a pipeline of that size?”

Many of the projects that were slated for construction in 2024-2026 were delayed by the volatility of the past few years to 2027 and beyond. This has created a glut of projects with post-2027 construction dates, but a shortage of those that could be completed in the next two to three years.

Renewable energy asset acquisitions slowed significantly in late August and early September of 2023, according to LevelTen Energy.

given the increased cost of capital, developers are now taking a more strategic approach to project acquisitions

Link

Chinese solar shares extended their recent gains amid speculation the government will relax caps on renewable installation, improving the outlook for the sector

Xinyi Solar Holdings Ltd. and Flat Glass Group Co. both jumped at least 8%

market speculation China will allow a curtailment rate of more than 5% for power generated from renewable projects including solar farms

relaxation is likely given regulators’ recent tone on managing renewable power utilization at a “reasonable level”

raised the full-year estimate for China solar installation by 21%

Link

power output of up to 450 W

power conversion efficiency of up to 22.5%

uses 210 mm diameter wafers and features double-glass design in place of the conventional glass-and-backsheet structure

NEG9R.25 dual-glass module combines n-type i-TOPCon technology

1.6 mm heat-strengthened glass on the front and back while the all-black aesthetic has been achieved by incorporating black cells with thin busbars, along with a black frame and encapsulation material

expected to be available in Australia next quarter, measures 1,762 mm x 1,134 mm x 30 mm and weighs 21 kg

product guarantee of up to 25 years and a performance guarantee of 30 years

1% degradation in the first year and less than 13% over 30 years

Link

MT50e offers a GVWR of 23,000 lbs

range of up to 180 miles on a single charge (more than enough to cover my Matco guy)

new, “fleet optimized” battery capacity (smaller)

new electric export power system from Odyne that replaces the traditional ICE generators that power utility bodies, mobile disaster relief “command centers,” reefer units, and mobile medical units

built to the same body dimensions as gas and diesel MT chassis, meaning that a fleet’s existing bodies can be used on the MT50e with few or no changes, making it that much easier to integrate them into existing fleets

streamlined, integrated design with no reduction in cargo capacity compared to its diesel counterparts

smaller battery packs with shorter range and the addition of slower, “Level 2” home charging

easier to charge these trucks at home

“Which is a reasonably common use case, or so I’ve heard.”

Link

our call that US resi solar is down 15% in 2024

The first third of the year continues to be challenged, and our contact is expecting the market to stabilize starting in May/June with potential for acceleration and growth in Q4

sees stabilization in TX, FL, the Northeast, but the Midwest is quieter than expected. CA likely is worse than expected, i.e. down more than 30-40% in H1’24

If May/June end market activity does not pick up, then our US resi solar down 15% in 2024 is off the table, and we may be closer to down 25-30%

Despite the recent preservation of NEM in the Netherlands (see here), grid congestion in the Netherlands is still an issue and getting permits “is a long and frustrating process.”

country’s grid companies are understaffed and may need 60k technicians to carry out the required upgrades according to a contact

Link

Instead of voting on more stringent new regulations covering solar farms, the county commissoners agreed to extend their moratorium

“Today’s actions by the Sedgwick County Board of County Commissioners replicates earlier efforts and essentially ignores the research, community feedback and recommendations of these groups, further delaying the positive economic impacts solar projects will bring to local landowners and communities,”

originally created a six-month ban on energy projects last September to give them time to revise rules for commercial solar farms

Link

subsidy, now standing at an alluring 50%

More than 50 solar power product stalls were set up at the mela

concerted effort to embrace sustainable energy and accelerate the widespread adoption of solar pump sets

launched the Soura Mitra app which will help streamline the applications of farmers who wish to install solar-powered pump sets

Link

generate 150MW of power and “store up to 1,200MWh”

“eight hour” battery

utilise lithium-ion batteries and occupy 20 acres of land, with 23 used in total for the balance of plant (BOP) components

located within the existing right-of-way land of the Alta 1 Wind Facility project in Kern County, California

Link

One quarter of large-scale batteries have built-in fire risks caused by manufacturing defects in components

26 per cent of battery energy storage systems (BESS) have quality problems with their fire detection and suppression systems

faults include fire alarm abort buttons and smoke and temperature sensors not being correctly wired in

18% of units had defects in their thermal management systems due to parts that weren’t installed properly

company audited 52 factories in the US, China, India, Vietnam and South Korea, and found 1300 manufacturing issues in some 30 gigawatt hours (GWh) of lithium-ion projects

quarter of all problems came from cell manufacturing – half come when the battery is installed and tested on site

install issues – balance of plant problems such as liquid coolant leakage due to deformed flange plates, defective valves, and malfunctioning temperature, smoke, gas sensors, audible and visual alarms due to internal mis-wiring; mistakes made during the installation of enclosures; and performance testing which saw the largest number of critical and major incidents

Bouldercombe fire was caused by a problem in the way the 50 MW/100 MWh battery interfaced with the grid

failure has been isolated to the power electronics interface with the AC bus bar in the individual Megapack unit itself and not the broader installation of Megapack units

Link

365 MW reduction in utility-scale solar power output during the April 8 US solar eclipse maximum and a 3,186 MW reduction in behind-the-meter solar power output during the maximum phase of the eclipse

As of the end of 2022, ISO New England estimates that the region had just over 6,000 MW in nameplate capacity of all types of solar PV

tracking a total of 41,582 MW of power generation projects in its interconnection queue

totality will begin in Burlington, Vermont, at 3:26 pm and end at 3:29 pm, and the partial eclipse will take place from 2:14 pm until 4:37 pm

Going out to 2030, there are 17,770 MW of battery storage projects in the interconnection queue and 15,171 MW of wind power projects, accounting for 45.4% and 38.7% of the total

Link

$250 million in funding from the Environmental Protection Agency’s $7 billion Solar For All program

$65 million of the total is earmarked for affordable housing communities

EPA is expected to announce award decisions in March 2024

Massachusetts Solar Technical Assistance Retrofit (STAR) program provides technical and financial assistance for affordable housing organizations to adopt solar

analyzed the portfolios of 44 affordable housing providers, encompassing more than 1,700 buildings

affordable housing providers have installed or committed to a cumulative 7.9 MW of solar across nearly 200 rooftops

projects represent more than $30 million in lifetime savings for the housing owners and reduce carbon emissions

STAR program supports housing providers in filing for tax credits created by the Inflation Reduction Act. Last fall, Resonant Energy helped clients submit 102 applications to the Department of Energy, representing $7.4 million in tax credit support if all are approved. Resonant Energy report that thus far, 68 of the 102 applications have been approved

Link

company has yet to explain exactly what HPBC is, but it is believed to be an extension of p-type interdigitated back-contact (IBC) technology that combines the structural advantages of PERC, TOPCon, and IBC solar

identical dimensions of 2,278 mm x 1,134 mm x 30 mm and the same weight of 31.8 kg. Their power output ranges from 565 W to 590 W and their efficiency spans from 21.9% to 22.8%

modules have a temperature coefficient of -0.28%/C.

absence of silver aluminum alloy in the electrode material reduces the likelihood of electrochemical reactions

30-year linear power output warranty, with the 30-year end power output being guaranteed to be no less than 88.85% of the nominal output power

Link

137GW of renewable energy capacity was awarded globally through government tenders

up 10% year-on-year despite sector headwinds, logistics tensions, and the energy crisis

Solar PV capacity was the most awarded renewables through government tenders, accounting for 44% of the total volume with 61GW.

solar’s share of global government tenders dropped from 59% in 2022

offshore wind (31GW, 23% of the total volume)

onshore wind (34GW, 24% of the total volume)

Tenders for solar PV, along with onshore wind, were undersubscribed last year

lack of interested bidders led to 30% of the volume being tendered unallocated in 2023

Link

“prefer not to have any solar, but if we don’t have it, we won’t have the ability to keep this farm going,”

116,000 farms had solar panels in 2022, a 30% jump from five years prior

solar as 40% of US electricity would require 5.7 million acres…less than 1% of America’s some 880 million acres of farmland.

estimates $1,200 per acre annually in a solar lease.

lackluster crop markets mean farmers are estimated to lose more than $100 per acre planting corn in Illinois

believes solar development should be taking place on the least-productive land, but as farms have to determine what’s best for their businesses it’s leading to a “checkerboard kind of pattern of solar development covering up really great farmland.”

plans to triple the amount of solar on his land — covering about 15% of the total acreage — as panels offer a kind of insurance to the farming business

look at it as almost another crop

Link

TOPCon cell capacities are underway by some manufacturers, these will be insufficient to cater to the current requirements of domestic module manufacturers

cell manufacturers in India have been prioritizing domestic cell production for in-house module manufacturing or exports, particularly to the US market, exacerbating the scarcity of cells for domestic projects

has resulted in the cost of domestic solar cells being more than two to almost three times that of imported A-grade cells, despite the wafers for cell manufacturing being sourced internationally.

Adding to the complexity, India cells are about 20-35% costlier than imported cells having the same wafers

limits the market for domestic panel manufacturers as government projects under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s schemes and programmes mandate cells to be made in India under the domestic content requirement.

Link

In 2023, the average thickness of multi-Si wafers will be 170 μm

so it is predicted that the thickness will remain unchanged at 170 μm after 2024, but it is not ruled out that there is still the possibility of thinning in the later period

The average thickness of p-type mono wafers is around 150μm, down 5μm from 2022

average thickness of n-type wafers for TOPCon cells and HJT cells is 125μm, and the thickness of n-type wafers for TOPCon cells is about 120μm, a decrease of 15μm and 5μm respectively compared with 2022

Link

projected that polysilicon prices will likely remain around the current level until June. However, as production of polysilicon intensifies in the second half of the year, prices are expected to decrease again, potentially falling within the range of CNY50 to CNY55/kg

production cost for polysilicon manufactured outside of China has risen to a range between $15 and over $20. Factors contributing to this increase include global inflation and the growing trend of certain firms purchasing metal silicon from sources outside of China

China Mono Grade, OPIS’ assessment for polysilicon prices in the country were assessed at CNY61.25 ($8.52)/kg

The increase in production costs, primarily manifested by the rise in power prices, has played a role in driving up the price of polysilicon in China

a brand-new, 100,000 MT polysilicon project, whose construction had begun in February last year, was recently found to have been put on hold midway through. In addition, the producer of a 50,000 MT polysilicon project, which commenced production in June of last year, is presently seeking buyers; however, the process was said to have encountered some difficulties

Link

In the west, during February mild air from the Pacific banked up clouds and depressed irradiance by 10-20%, according to analysis completed using the Solcast API.

In the east, persistent high pressure in the upper atmosphere led to irradiance as high as 30% above normal, and new records for solar generation and temperature

A clear east/west divide is present in the irradiance anomaly this month. A strong low pressure system sat further east than normal over the Atlantic which brought calm, drier and sunny conditions to the Eastern U.S. and Mexico. Sunnier than normal conditions delivered 20-30% more irradiance than normal from Texas to New England. On the west coast however, high pressure was further west over the Pacific, so that coastal low pressure systems pulled moist air from equatorial regions, leading to increased clouds, blocking irradiance.

Link

initiative more than a decade in the making to build Nantucket’s largest solar farm on the Wannacomet Water Company property off Milestone Road quietly came to an end this week

Select Board on Wednesday officially voted to back out of the project by terminating a lease agreement with Solar Star Tranquility – a subsidiary of the giant French energy company TotalEnergies – which had been selected in 2019 to develop the 3.8 megawatt, ground-mounted solar array

Permitting challenges – specifically a determination last August by the state that the property was subject to an article of the Massachusetts Constitution that would have required state legislative approval – ultimately led to the project’s downfall

“The size of the project is dead, but we’re looking into doing something smaller scale, within Department of Environmental Protection regulations and what we can do in the well field,”

As recently as last May, TotalEnergies representatives were telling the public that construction would begin in the fall of 2023. But that never happened.

The NLWC’s attorney wrote a legal opinion asserting the water company property was indeed subject to Article 97, while town counsel KP Law authored a conflicting opinion that it was not. In August 2023, the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs stated that the property was subject to Article 97.

Link

Trade associations in the US and Europe stymied green innovations under the guise of supporting a “technology neutral” approach to avoiding the damage done by burning their fuels.

In 1975, after a global oil crisis, the API opposed an energy saving bill that included refundable income tax credits for heat pumps in homes. “The United States has a large resource base of conventional energy such as oil, gas and coal,” it said. “Expeditious development of these supplies can make a significant contribution not only to improving US energy independence, but to create a healthy economy.”

Link

At the Marled offshore wind farm, the fish farms are planned to be placed between the wind turbine foundations and anchored with their own anchoring system

fish cages will be lowered to a depth of 50–70 metres and hoisted up to the surface for checks and harvesting.

previous studies show that offshore wind farms can act as artificial reefs and marine protected areas, which increases the amount of fish and shellfish. While larger fishing vessels cannot pass through the wind farm, there are good opportunities for fish farming, the developer says

Link

Atlas Renewable Energy, an international renewable energy leader, has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Codelco, the state-owned Chilean mining company and the world’s largest copper producer, for the supply of 375 GWh of 24/7 energy per year

Projects says it will get 24/7 electricity from renewable sources – says batteries involved. Nothing else noted.

Link

House Bill 2651 would restrict the amount of real estate used for solar power in any Missouri county from exceeding 2 percent of all cropland in that county

“My district is greatly affected by this issue, and it’s been a very divisive issue,” said Rep. Kent Haden, R-Mexico, the bill’s sponsor. “I have landowners who want to lease their land to solar facilities, and I think they have that right to do that. It’s their land, they can do what they want to do with it. I also have people that are adjacent to it who have quarter- to half-million-dollar homes on 10 acres that will be surrounded on four sides by solar, and that changes the value of their property.”

Haden’s bill also would require 75 percent of solar panels and equipment used in Missouri solar projects to be of U.S. origin, he said, adding that 80 percent of solar panels are currently made in China.

Statewide, the share of land used for agriculture is shrinking, with 15,599,446 acres of total cropland in 2017 compared to 14,764,750 acres in 2022

Link

first commercially available, large-capacity, electric forklift made in the US into service

55,000-pound capacity Wiggins Yard eBull battery electric forklift

capable of lifting up to 25 metric tons, making it one of the largest electric forklifts in the US.

over 100 kWh of onboard energy storage, and it can support eight-hour shifts with Level 2 charging or double shifts with DC fast charging

electric forklift investment was supported by California’s Clean Off-Road Equipment (CORE) voucher program

I wonder if they’re upsizing because of the drop in the price of batteries.

project’s storage capacity would increase from 400 MWh to 1,600 MWh

400 MW solar PV facility integrated with a battery storage system

project involves capital investment of more than one billion dollars and will commence construction in the second quarter of 2024

developer last month announced it secured up to $460 million in investments from Sandbrook Capital

Link

elective pay (otherwise known as “direct pay”) and transferability

allows tax-exempt and governmental entities to receive elective payments for 12 clean energy tax credits, including the ITC and PTC (Sec. 45 and 48 credits), as well as tax credits for electric vehicles and charging stations

allows businesses to transfer all or a portion of any of 11 clean energy credits to a third-party in exchange for tax-free immediate funds, so that businesses can take advantage of tax incentives if they do not have sufficient tax liability to fully utilize the credits themselves

final rules also lay out the process and timeline to claim and receive an elective payment

entities treated as partnerships for federal tax purposes are not eligible for elective pay

IRS agreed with commenters that existing guidance on making a valid election out of partnership tax treatment for clean energy arrangements was limited, and updates were needed for these arrangements to be more effective

Link

January and February 2024, a total of 99 new energy storage projects were commissioned

capacity of nearly 3 GW/7.743 GWh

January 186.8% increase compared to January 2023

February 2024 fell back to normal levels, a 12.5% year-on-year increase

Grid-side energy storage projects totaled 1.613 GW/3.426 GWh, accounting for 55%

All source-side energy storage projects were new energy source-side storage projects, totaling 1.003 GW/3.316 GWh, accounting for 35%

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Wood Mackenzie Renewables & Power says ‘solar sector added 32.4 GW in 2023, 51% higher from 2022’

an additional five gigawatts (GW) over last year’s capacity could be installed in 2024

Growth-rate expectations for the commercial, community and utility-scale segments are 19%, 15% and 26% for the year

high case for U.S. solar with increased supply chain stability, more tax credit financing and lower interest rates would increase our (solar installation) outlook (by) 17%

low case with supply chain constraints, less tax credit financing and static interest rates would decrease our outlook (by) 24%

California’s residential solar installation is expected to decline by 13% in 2024 on the shift to NEM 3.0

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found that the Net Value Billing Tariff (NVBT) policy these groups support ​“conflicts with federal law and does not meet the requirements” of AB 2316, the 2022 state law that ordered the CPUC to create an affordable and equitable community-solar program

California utilities argued that, unlike rooftop solar, batteries, electric-vehicle chargers and other distributed energy resources connected to the low-voltage distribution grid, which are subject to state jurisdiction, the community-solar and battery projects envisioned for NVBT fall under federal law that governs larger-scale generators operating in wholesale energy markets

nonprofit advocacy group for California utility customers stated that there is ​“no instance of FERC asserting jurisdiction over, or ordering changes to, a virtual net metering tariff or community renewable energy program approved pursuant to state law.”

Hymes appears to dismiss these points in Monday’s proposed decision, stating that ​“the NVBT proposals do not equate to retail rate programs but instead resemble wholesale electricity procurement.”

trade group representing solar developers which created the NVBT in 2021, excoriated the proposed decision in a Monday press release, stating that it ​“manages to both misinterpret federal law and our proposal, and ignores precedent that has been set by states deploying community solar for more than a decade.”

CPUC’s proposed decision also conflicts with the view of 20 California lawmakers involved in passing AB 2316, who in a September letter to the CPUC told the agency that the NVBT ​“most closely aligns with the intentions” of the law

proposed decision would order the state’s utilities to meet AB 2316’s mandate not via the NVBT, but by altering existing community-solar and wholesale-market distributed energy programs

California has less than 600 megawatts of large-scale distributed solar developed to date, compared to a total of 6.2 gigawatts in the 22 states with policies that support community-solar programs

CPUC Administrative Law Judge Kelly A. Hymes — who also crafted the CPUC’s rooftop-solar decision and another decision slashing compensation for shared solar systems for multifamily properties, schools and farms in most of the state — will cut off what may be the last viable avenue for non-utility-scale solar in a state that’s still far off pace to meet its clean-energy goals

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I don’t know a bunch of these words, but aggregated I get it – perovskites lasting longer

introduce a generic approach featuring a Lewis-acid layer sandwiched between dopant-free semicrystalline polymer and metal electrode in perovskite solar cells, resulting in an ideal quasi-ohmic contact even at elevated temperature up to 85 °C

integrating the polymer-acid-metal structure into solar cells, devices exhibit remarkable resilience, retaining 96% ± 3%, 96% ± 2% and 75% ± 7% of their initial efficiencies after continuous operation in nitrogen at 35 °C for 2212 h, 55 °C for 1650 h and 85 °C for 937 h

Leveraging the Arrhenius relation, we project an impressive T80 lifetime of 26,126 h at 30 °C.

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