Taiwan

The PV industry in Southeast Asia has come a long way since guest author Ragna Schmidt-Haupt, partner at Everoze, reported on solar financing innovation in the region more than a decade ago. In this article, she outlines five factors for success, the newest of which has the potential to become a game changer, and not only in Southeast Asia.

Taiwanese manufacturer Winaico has developed new 525 W TOPCon solar panels with a power conversion efficiency of 22.1% and a temperature coefficient of -0.30% per degree Celsius.

Vena Energy has announced the commissioning of Taiwan’s largest PV project to date with the developer confirming the 272 MW E2 Solar Project, which it says will be capable of contributing up to 4% of the island nation’s total solar energy output annually, is now fully operational.

The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and United Renewable Energy (URE) have developed a solar panel that can be easily dismantled to simplify the recycling process. They claim 96% of the materials in the panel can be recovered, including all of the solar cells and front glass.

United Renewable Energy has energised a 15 MW/15 MWh battery energy storage system connected to a 150 MW solar park located near the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan.

The Northern Territory government has signed an agreement with Taiwanese battery company Aleees and Western Australia-based miner Avenira to develop a battery cathode manufacturing plant in Darwin.

UK solar specialist Lightsource is developing a 150 MW solar park at a fishery in Budai, in Taiwan’s Chiayi county. Construction is expected to commence in June 2023.

The Sun Rock building is owned by Taiwan’s power utility Taipower. It was covered with 4,000 square meters of PV panels deployed by Dutch architectural firm MVRDV.

Scientists in the U.S. discovered a promising new battery chemistry based on chlorine and table salt. Batteries based on this chemistry can achieve at least six times the energy density of today’s lithium-ion batteries, according to the group that created it. The prototype battery could already be suitable for small devices such as hearing aids, and with further work could be scaled up to larger applications.

Corporate power purchase agreements are the second most adopted purchasing method in the world, and they’re growing fast. With the U.S. and Europe picking up the pace in the last year, the Asia Pacific is not going to be left behind, with Wood Mackenzie estimating corporate PPAs in the region doubled in the last year.