Portugal installed 890 MW of solar in 2022
Portugal’s cumulative PV capacity hit 2.59 GW at the end of 2022, outpacing the growth of other renewable energy sources. The country failed to meet its own installation predictions, likely because some large-scale projects awarded in the 2019 and 2020 auctions ended up missing their commissioning deadlines.
Brazil has 17 GW of distributed solar, with 32 GW under development
The Brazilian Association of Photovoltaic Solar Energy (ABSolar) says the country has reached 17 GW of installed solar capacity for PV projects below 5 MW in size. Over the past three months, connection requests for distributed-generation PV projects have hit 32 GW.
European Commission introduces Green Deal Industrial Plan
The European Commission listed tax exemptions, flexible aid, and the promotion of local manufacturing among its key strategies for the Green Deal Industrial Plan. However, the SolarPower Europe industry group has criticized the plan’s lack of focus on solar.
TBEA unveils new residential inverters
TBEA has developed new products with nominal power ratings of 10 kW to 25 kW and efficiencies of 98.5%.
Germany installed 7.19 GW of new solar in 2022
Germany deployed around 350 MW of new PV capacity in December alone. Its cumulative solar capacity reached 66.5 GW last year.
Solar may cover the world’s electricity demand with 0.3% of its land area
An international research group claims that raw materials and land availability do not present a real barrier for a global energy system with solar at its center. They said that forecasts for PV growth should not have their axis on utility-scale power plants and instead consider vertical PV, agrivoltaics, and floating PV as the source of future big market volumes.
LG unveils heat pump for water heating
LG has developed an air source heat pump with the capacity to heat 200 liters to 270 liters of domestic water. It uses R134a as a refrigerant and the pump has a coefficient of performance (COP) of up to 3.85.
Only5mins! – Standards in agrivoltaics might limit innovation
Makoto Tajima, an agrivoltaics analyst for Japan’s Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies (ISEP), speaks to pv magazine about the growth of agricultural PV in Japan, as well as cost considerations and the pace of technological development.
Iberdrola, Prosolia secure approval for 1.2 GW of solar in Portugal
Iberdrola says it will build the massive Fernando Pessoa solar facility in Santiago do Cacém, about 200 kilometers south of Lisbon.
New lithium iron phosphate batteries for rooftop solar
V-Tac’s new 10 kWh lithium iron phosphate, wall-mounting battery system purportedly runs for more than 5,000 cycles.
