Manufacturing

U.S.-owned business intelligence firm Wood Mackenzie has attempted to evaluate the market opportunities offered by the repowering of solar projects around the world which feature inverters which are 10 years old – as well as those which will expire ahead of time.

Straddling two state borders, the West Murray region in southeastern Australia has become a microcosm of technical challenges that can plague the energy transition. Faced with serious curtailment of solar farms in this electrically remote region, a remarkable inverter-based technical feat may have changed the game.

Under a new plan to stabilize its grid, the South Australian State Government is providing $10 million to upgrade its voltage management and giving the green light to the Australian Energy Market Operator to stop its rooftop solar from feeding in when needed. The plan also highlights the importance “smart” PV and stronger network interconnection, primarily the new SA-NSW line a.k.a. Project EnergyConnect.

The spherical 3D cells can reportedly generate around 101% more power than conventional flat solar cells. Measurements have also shown that the spherical cells provide a 10% lower maximum temperature compared to flat cells, while accumulating less dust.

The Düsseldorf Regional Court has agreed Chinese rivals of the Korean manufacturer illegally used its patented passivation technology. The judges granted Hanwha Q-Cells an injunction which requires Jinko, REC and Longi to retrieve all modules featuring the patented technology distributed in Germany since late January last year. Hanwha can also opt to have the offending products destroyed.

As the solar industry moves to embrace ultra-high-efficiency modules, the Chinese PV heavyweight has unveiled TrinaPro Mega, the first integrated solar system in the world that incorporates 500W+ modules. The solution is expected to be particularly attractive for Australia’s utility-scale PV sector.

Inverters and batteries from Chinese manufacturer Growatt have been included in Ikea’s solar offers in Australia.

Despite the challenges to both the manufacturing and shipment of its products during the period, JinkoSolar today reported that it shipped 3.4 GW of modules in the first quarter of 2020, bringing its revenue for the quarter just over the billion dollar mark.

A new report from Rocky Mountain Institute in the U.S. explores the need for companies to disclose information about greenhouse gas emissions throughout their supply chains, and the most effective ways to do this whilst ensuring consistency and comparability of collected data across multiple industries.

Dutch startup Solar Visuals and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) have developed new “mimic design” facade modules that reproduce the features of building surfaces. Lenneke Slooff-Hoek, a senior scientist for TNO, told pv magazine that the panels can be made in any size or color at 13% efficiency, adding that they have a partly transparent colored layer made of small dots.