Microgrid

EleXsys Energy’s technology allows the controlled flow of excess energy from distributed rooftop-solar generators to help stabilize global grids as they increasingly transition to renewables. The world could feel the positives of mass transition to solar within five years.

The 97%-efficient device is said to be the most powerful PV microinverter developed by the company to date and is capable of forming a microgrid during a power outage. The U.S. manufacturer expects to ship the first products in December.

Construction has begun on a manufacturing pilot project to see battery-grade nickel, cobalt and manganese for precursor battery cathode materials (PCAM) in Perth. The facility is expected to be completed in early 2022 and is one of a number of developments that will look to establish Western Australia (WA) as a materials supplier to the growing battery manufacturing industry.

With a rising chorus of voices calling for more solar industry recruits to perform the energy transition, Nigeria already has a skilled base of PV engineers and, with a little help filling the few gaps they have in their knowledge, the nation can step into the breach immediately, as Testimony Gabe-Oji, chief technology officer for Abuja-based installer Green Energy Spectrum, explains.

Big rooftop PV systems on factories, warehouses and public buildings need not be limited by ownership issues nor local grid capacity, claims Australian innovator EleXsys Energy. The company is maxing out an Ikea in Adelaide, Australia, with solar and storage. And it claims its smart technology can allow the same to be done elsewhere.

If a U.S. customs enforcement action were to take place, importers would need to prove that no forced labor was used at any stage of production, including all the way back to the mine.

pv magazine has spoken to Bill Lenihan, CEO of Netherlands-based energy system installer start-up Zola Electric – formerly Off Grid Electric – to find out how the business intends to spend the $90 million debt and equity investment it recently raised.

A 1.2 MW solar plant and ‘up to 2 MWh’ energy storage system will replace generators to power the city broadband network in Freetown from mid next year.

‘More than 90’ suppliers of appliances such as solar lanterns and home solar panels, as well as mini-grid installers, will be offered low-interest credit by an assortment of government-backed and privately-financed entities.

Johannesburg-based clean power business Blockpower is working on installing a back-up power supply across three agricultural estates in Zimbabwe.