Middle East

How do you know when an inverter or module is under-performing? Monitoring services should shed light on problems but AI-driven digital asset manager Raycatch says much information is hidden behind a wall of “noise.” Breaking that wall with advanced data analysis could unlock billions of cost savings.

The Indian engineering, procurement and construction contractor has secured orders to build two solar plants of 200 MW each in Gujarat. It has also won significant contracts for power transmission and distribution related work in Rajasthan, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Arabian country Qatar.

Despite big ambitions and even bigger projects being built across the region, PV manufacturing in the Middle East has never got off the ground. In Saudi Arabia, however, one manufacturer is realizing plans for a gigawatt-scale module factory. Over the next five years, Desert Technologies plans to bring 3 GW of heterojunction production to the Kingdom. pv magazine takes a look at the challenges facing PV manufacturers in Saudi Arabia, and the opportunities the nation may hold.

Solar-linked projects will be developed by domestic firm Augwind and will feature underground storage tanks. One of the systems will be built by French energy giant EDF and will feature a 20 MWh compressed air storage system and 5 MW solar array.

Sector coupling may be somewhat of a buzzword, but it also points to opportunities for PV beyond the power markets, which may quickly reach limitations during peak hours of irradiation. Combined energy, food and clean water production presents one such opportunity, with benefits for developers, utilities and communities.

The latest addition is the Indian multinational’s second project in Oman after a 125 MWp solar plant commissioned in June last year.

On Dec. 1, Tel-Aviv based robotic cleaning provider Ecoppia launched an initial public offering on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. In doing so, the seven-year-old solar startup raised $83.8 million from public and institutional investors – although heavily slated toward the latter. Jean Scemama, who joined Ecoppia as CEO in April 2020, says the IPO will allow it to double down on R&D efforts and expand into the provision of services.

The Israeli developer of module cleaning robots has bagged an order from Indian solar developer Azure Power to deploy its water-free cleaning solution across a 450 MW solar project in Rajasthan.

The Coimbatore-based startup has designed an autonomous solar panel cleaning bot with a modular design, making it compatible with almost any structure, mounting area, or climatic condition.

Low-cost batteries and novel perovskite materials are among the topics selected for joint research and development.