US poised to hit 336 GW of solar by 2027
Solar capacity in the United States is expected to grow from 129 GW today to 336 GW by 2027, according to the country’s Solar Energy Industries Association and research firm Wood Mackenzie.
IEA predicts global heat pump installs to hit 600 million by 2030
The International Energy Agency says that the deployment of 600 million heat pumps by 2030 could cover 20% of the annual heating requirements of buildings throughout the world.
Sharp unveils black-framed 410 W half-cut solar panels
Sharp’s newest PV modules feature white backsheets and are made for the needs of design-oriented customers.
‘No one has attempted this’: Proving a new model to bring solar to low-income Australians through Sydney pilot
A pilot program across Sydney’s suburbs is seeking to prove a model its proponents hope will afford low income Australians access to solar at no upfront cost. The soon to be energised systems have been fitted on 64 disability homes and 90 community houses and will operate using a PPA model. “The poor don’t have the opportunity to put solar on their homes,” BlueCHP CEO, Charles Northcote tells pv magazine Australia. “They lose out because they have to pay all the grid charges… and this has not been addressed by the governments at all at this stage.”
Enphase partners with Home Connect to manage home appliances from single app
Integrated clean home energy and smart appliances platform lets users run appliances on battery-stored solar energy in pre-determined time frames.
Decade of unreliability: renewable projects and transmission ‘urgently’ needed as Australia stares down coal closures
The Australian Energy Market Operator warns every Australian jurisdiction in the national grid could see electricity demand outstripping supply within the decade – though only if anticipated renewable projects do not come to fruition.
Researchers explore rooftop PV for pre-cooling of residential, commercial buildings
A team of Australian researchers have developed a way to use rooftop solar PV to run air conditioners to pre-cool residential and commercial buildings. They have identified several factors that could help reduce a building’s energy costs.
Territory targets more solar as work begins on $45 million big battery
Construction has commenced on a $45 million grid-scale battery storage system that will support further uptake of solar PV among households and businesses in the Northern Territory and help the government achieve 50% penetration of renewables into its energy supply by 2030.
Melbourne startup to forecast entire region’s solar output using real-time satellite data
Combining satellite images of Australian rooftops with those of real-time cloud cover to create accurate forecasts of distributed solar output for suburbs and perhaps even whole regions and states is the focus of a new Australian startup, Solstice AI. “We’re kind of at a point now where there’s so much solar that it’s causing all these issues but, if we can forecast it, many of these issues can be alleviated or managed much better,” the company’s cofounder and CEO, Julian de Hoog, tellspv magazine Australia.
PV with gravity storage, redox flow batteries in buildings
Indian researchers have developed a new hybrid system featuring a conventional rooftop PV system, a solar tree, two gravity power modules for building (GPMBs), and a vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB), with power exclusively provided by the two solar installations.
