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President Xi Jinping’s pledge this week at the United Nations General Assembly that China will not build new coal-fired plants abroad is welcome news; however, Asia’s transition to low carbon energies remains in dire need of policy reforms.

The urgent global need for tens of terawatts of solar capacity to replace fossil fuels by 2050 signals it’s time to hone in on developing the most sustainable technologies — before reserves of silver, indium and bismuth dry up.

As solar deployment increases, concerns about price cannibalisation continue to be more and more relevant. Large-scale solar generation during midday hours may result in curtailment or unprofitable wholesale power prices. As supply increases, the economic viability of solar PV projects could fall into question.

Buildings are considered to be a major driver of emissions. In addition to the predicted billions of square meters of space that will be built across the world over the next decade, most developments standing today will still be around in 2050. Thus, retrofitting existing structures is seen as a key sustainability target. In the fourth quarter of 2021, pv magazine’s UP Initiative will focus on the role that solar and energy storage can play in greening the world’s urban spaces.

The addition of 521 MW between April to June was India’s highest ever rooftop solar capacity installed in a single quarter.

The federal government has announced it will extend its prospective national network of clean hydrogen hubs to each of Australia’s states. The move was welcomed by a number of industry bodies, though some say the program doesn’t go far enough with government spending still lagging our European counterparts.

Power and water are a classic utility couple. SA Water has switched up the relationship with another solar plant energised in its massive solar rollout that is set to save on both costs and carbon.

Rising efficiencies and the plummeting cost of solar modules over the past few years, recent months notwithstanding, are leading innovators toward ideas that may look unusual in the current tracker-dominated world of large-scale solar parks. Advocates of the new approaches argue that they leave traditional models looking decidedly flat by comparison.

Price increases, supply chain disruptions, and a series of trade risks are threatening the U.S.’s ability to decarbonise the grid, warned SEIA president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper.

Global software as a service (SaaS) company, WePower, has today launched its new ‘Incite’ solution, allowing businesses to track and certify their operation’s sustainability through blockchain-enabled technology, ultimately combatting greenwashing. Australia is first cab off the rank for the Lithuanian-headquartered company’s new product suite.