United Kingdom

The International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaics (ITRPV) helps to predict future solar cell and module technology trends and is influential in directing research funding and technology investment. Scientists in Australia and the United Kingdom have analyzed ITRPV predictions over the past decade, highlighting the difficulties of forecasting PV trends.

Solar developer Lightsource bp has declared that proceeds from the sale of five utility scale PV projects in Australia with a combined capacity of more than 1 GW will be used to fast track the development of a pipeline of projects across the wider Asia Pacific region.

Energy giant BP announced today it would take full ownership of solar and wind energy developer Lightsource BP once a deal – pertaining to the purchase of the remaining renewables company’s shares BP does not own – goes through next year.

British renewables developer Pacific Green Technologies has joined the growing number of foreign companies looking to capitalise on Australia’s energy transition, announcing plans to build a 500 MW/1,500 MWh battery energy storage system in South Australia.

Renewable energy investor and developer Quinbrook has launched software to allow customers to trace both the source and carbon-intensity of their electricity in real-time. The energy-tracing platform comes at an important moment, just as Australia’s government is deciding whether to include time-stamped and granular source information in its formal certificate schemes.

A team of Dutch university students under the banner Top Dutch Solar Racing has installed perovskite silicon tandem cells in its entry in the 16th edition of Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. The upcoming race is a six-day, 3,000km expedition across Australia, from Darwin to Adelaide.

Jaguar Land Rover and Wykes Engineering are building a 2.5 MWh storage system with electric-vehicle batteries taken from Jaguar I-PACE cars. The large-scale system will store wind and solar at an undisclosed location in the United Kingdom.

Chris Case, chief technology officer for Oxford PV, recently spoke with pv magazine about the U.K.-based company’s new 28.6%-efficient, commercial-sized, tandem solar cell, its U.S. subsidiary, and plans for the future.

Prefabricated solar that integrates single-axis tracking technology has been deployed in Australia for the first time with United Kingdom-headquartered Cambridge Energy announcing a 2.3 MW system has been successfully installed at a mine site in Western Australia.

Clean energy investor Global Sustainable Energy Opportunities expects to gain access to additional revenue streams in Australia’s National Electricity Market after completing the retrofit of a battery energy storage system at an operating solar farm in South Australia.