The potential for floating solar in Southeast Asia
The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and its partners have assessed the technical potential for floating PV throughout Southeast Asia.
Dutch government mulling PV ban on agricultural sites
Dutch Economy Minister Micky Adriaansens said that she aims to make it impossible to install solar farms on agricultural land, with some unspecified exceptions. The plan has raised concerns at Holland Solar, with the trade group warning of potential damage to farmers and solar project developers.
Using existing fences as near-zero-cost racking solution for PV deployment
American researchers are proposing to use steel zip ties to attach solar modules to fences in animal farms as a low-cost racking solution for agrivoltaic applications. They found the proposed approach is technically and economically viable, provided careful wind load tests are conducted on the fences.
Indoor perovskite PV solar cells with 32.0% efficiency
Scientists in Thailand built an indoor perovskite solar cell with low-cost carbon electrode architecture. The manufacturing process is based on antisolvent deposition and vacuum thermal annealing (VTA) and reportedly results in higher perovskite film quality.
Open-source online tool to optimize wind-solar projects
Scientists in Spain have developed a tool that optimizes the joint production of wind and solar. It combines data, patterns of solar radiation, and wind speeds over time in specific parts of Europe.
Big module makers in China call for wafer standards
Trina Solar, JinkoSolar, JA Solar, Longi, Risen, Canadian Solar, Tongwei, Chint, and Das Solar have issued a joint statement demanding the standardization of wafer sizes.
French railway operator launches renewables unit, plans 1 GW of solar
SNCF says it wants to devote 1,000 hectares of its land to solar development, so it can cover 20% of its electricity consumption by the end of the decade.
China polysilicon prices hold steady amid rebound talk
In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.
New guidelines for inter-row spacing of PV power plants
A Canadian research group has applied new guidelines for ground coverage ratios to 31 locations in Mexico, the United States, and Canada. It found the new formulae show that the factors affecting inter-row energy yield loss are highly dependent on latitude.
Utilities, can you DG it?
Small-scale PV systems drove the installation of more than 200 GW of solar capacity last year and could support more than 300 GW this year. That means a reset for utilities.
