Israel

Scientists from Israel have calculated how long it would take for PV plants and afforestation projects to offset their warming impacts caused by the darkening of land. The results showed that in drylands, PV fields could be over 50 times more efficient than afforestation.

SolarEdge’s new bidirectional DC-coupled electric-vehicle (EV) charger enables vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid applications and can seamlessly integrate with its home energy systems. It is scheduled for release in the second half of 2024.

SolarEdge’s revenue rose 58% year over year to USD 3.1 billion ($4.5 billion) in 2022. It expects revenues for the first quarter of 2023 to be within the range of $1.33 billion to $1.37 billion.

An international consortium led by Israel’s Al-Zahrawi Society has launched the Regace project to develop agrivoltaic solutions for greenhouses. It will investigate the performance of a new tracking system across locations and climates and use carbon dioxide enrichment to improve crop yield.

An Israeli scientist has proposed a way to achieve uninterrupted PV power on the moon without using energy storage. The proposal involves the installation of PV panels around a 360-degree latitudinal ring close to one of the moon’s poles. There would be no inter-array shading, and static vertical PV arrays and arrays mounted on single-axis vertical trackers could be viable mounting structures.

Israeli researchers have developed a device that combines a reversible Si anode with halide cathodes and uses hybrid electrolytes to enable cell recharging. In the proposed system configuration, silicon is dissolved during the battery discharge process, and upon charging, elemental silicon is deposited.

The inverter and battery manufacturer says its new Sella 2 factory will produce cells for its residential solar-plus-battery products as well as for other applications.

A U.S.-Israeli consortium is developing synchroinverters – inverters that mimic a synchronous generator and are able to actively respond to the grid’s frequency changes while stabilising the voltage. The new devices are expected to do this simultaneously and provide grid stability services in less than 16.67 milliseconds.

The inverter and battery manufacturer said it has been sitting on a record order backlog for the current three month window and the opening quarter of the new year, which may in part be down to a long Covid shutdown at its Vietnamese production base.

Israel-based Augwind has built its first 250 kW/1 MWh compressed air storage system for the collective community of Yahel, in the southern, desert part of the country. The commercial scale facility will be connected to a PV system and will be used for behind-the-meter services.