Asia

Gujarat-based solar manufacturer Solex plans to have 1 GW of cell and 3.7 GW of module capacity operational in 2023.

Floating PV is a growing niche in the solar sector, but its offshore segment has proven more difficult to activate, largely because of the difficulty of open-water energy generation. Nevertheless, the potential of offshore floating PV is almost unlimited, and one Singaporean firm, G8 Subsea, is looking to leave the safety of harbours and reservoirs.

Solar manufacturer Jolywood, which supplied almost 500 MW of its bifacial tunnel oxide passivated contact panels for Oman’s Ibri II facility, has claimed the power plant is the biggest to date to deploy the high-efficiency technology.

The Chinese manufacturer appears to have shouldered higher input costs in return for carving out a larger slice of the world’s biggest solar market – although it’s not clear from the company’s third-quarter update that CEO Xiande Li received the memo.

Through the Green Electricity Tariff (GET) program, the government will offer 4,500 GWh of power to residential and industrial customers each year. These will be charged an additional MYE0.037 (AU$0.012) for each kWh of renewable energy purchased.

The 41 MW facility was built by Korean developer Scotra with solar modules provided by South Korea-based manufacturer Hanwha Q-Cells. It was deployed on a water reservoir at the Hapcheon dam, in the South Gyeongsang province.

The owner of the 100 MW Merredin Solar Farm in Western Australia has confirmed it will look to accelerate its roll out of renewable energy projects in the Asia-Pacific region after raising more than $34 million in Series A financing.

The International Energy Agency predicts that India will record the world’s fastest growth in energy consumption from buildings through 2040. The energy demand could create a big market for solar installers and equipment providers, particularly in the commercial and industrial sector. While building codes now include provisions for renewable energy integration, effective implementation will be key to ensuring compliance, reports Uma Gupta.

South Australia’s nascent green hydrogen industry has attracted financial support from the Japanese Government which has awarded funding to the Marubeni Corporation which is planning to export the zero-emissions fuel produced using large-scale wind and solar energy in the state to the Indo-Pacific region.

According to Chinese researchers, using abandoned coal mine goaves for pumped hydro facilities in combination with large scale solar and wind is not only technically feasible but can also provide an efficiency of 82.8% in yearly operation cases. They applied the model to wind and solar-rich northwestern and southwestern China.