Quality

2023 Scorecard names 250 types of solar modules from 35 manufacturers as Top Performers.

The debate continues over whether super-sized, high-power solar modules are a good thing for the industry and they appear to be here to stay. Vicente Parra and James Whittemore, from Enertis Applus+, consider the pitfalls to avoid when designing high-power solar projects.

In a strongly-worded submission, two experts claim AEMO’s backbone interconnector proposed between Victoria and New South Wales is a “monumental mistake” and relies on analysis that is “biased, flawed and in parts dishonest.”

Community opposition to renewable projects tends to be dismissed as NIMBY-ism, an attitude of not-in-my-back-yard. To do so fails to recognise the character and potential claws of the globally growing movement, as well as the renewable sectors’ own role in rearing resentments. Australian reporter Bella Peacock investigates the emotional thread that ties the particularities of opposition movements together, and ways developers can defuse the charge.

US solar was disrupted in 2022, with module seizures delaying projects due to strict laws designed to stamp out alleged forced labor practices in sections of the Chinese PV industry. However, it remains to be seen whether seizures affected such alleged practices.

As part of its $1.3 billion (USD 87 million) Solar Homes Program, the Victorian government has launched an initiative to upskill electricians, electrical engineers and licensed electrical inspectors to encourage them to take on more solar work.

Bureau Veritas tells pv magazine that there is a great deal of interest in hydrogen certification schemes in Australia, Europe, the United States, and the Middle East.

Raptor Maps analysed 24.5 GW of large-scale solar assets and determined that power losses due to equipment anomalies nearly doubled from 1.61% in 2019 to 3.13% in 2022. At the module level, cell and diode anomalies were the most common issues, it said.

In recent years, global renewables developer BayWa re has been turning its attention to the Asia Pacific, expanding into Southeast Asia. Junrhey Castro, the company’s director of solar distribution in Southeast Asia, sat down with pv magazine Australia to discuss its experiences in the emerging markets of the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

There is currently no widely accepted test methodology to assess the safety of second-life lithium-ion batteries (LiBs). However, a UK government study reveals two opposing views on their safety, raising concerns over whether such devices should be deployed in homes under any circumstances.