Residential PV

The system generates electricity and heat for residential houses and small businesses. An integrated energy management system should guarantee maximum self-consumption of the solar power produced.

Dutch transmission system operator Tennet, which also serves Germany, is planning to create flexible electricity demand and reduce grid congestion by promoting the use of smarter heating systems and heat pumps that can also be powered by solar and wind energy. According to its experts, intelligent control of heat pumps may result in the creation of between 0.5 and 1 GW of temporary grid flexibility by 2030.

In an earnings call this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk boldly claimed that the company will soon be “the market leader in solar.”

IHS Markit is predicting the world will add 30% more solar capacity this year.

Falling module prices will help PV post another record year after an estimated 132 GW was installed worldwide in 2020, according to an energy transition investment trends report published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

The private-sector arm of the World Bank, which claims to leverage $3 of its own capital and $8 from third parties for every dollar invested in its blended finance funds, has attempted to quantify what devoting Covid recovery funds to green investment would mean for emerging economies.

The EV manufacturer with big solar ambitions has finally leveraged its expertise in power electronics technology and launched a solar inverter.

Challenges like frequent policy and regulatory changes, high capital costs, low awareness, non-uniformity in approval processes across states, restriction on net metering, and additional charges by DISCOMs need to be addressed for rooftop solar to take off in India.

Simarpreet Singh, director at EPC firm Hartek Group, speaks to pv magazine about the impact of the Covid pandemic on the rooftop solar sector, technology trends shaping the market, and the outlook for 2021.

Researchers in Finland have demonstrated the technical feasibility of an off-grid residential PV system combined with short-term battery storage and seasonal hydrogen storage. The proposed model is applicable only to northern climates, as higher levels of solar radiation in southern locations would mean a reduced need for seasonal storage. It was tested in an existing single-family house in Finland with a 21 kW rooftop array and a ground source 6 kW heat pump.