Covid-19 delayed 63% of India’s planned big solar in first quarter
Coronavirus-related disruption severely impacted solar installation during the first three months of the year, as the nation added only 689 MW of utility scale PV, against the 1,864 MW that was scheduled to be commissioned.
Australian rooftop PV market continues to thrive
Australia’s rooftop PV fleet continues to grow in the face of uncertainty surrounding the outbreak of the pandemic, posting another big month above 200 MW. Mega-household solar systems are growing in popularity, but retailers and installers can see the storm clouds gathering.
Germany installed 380 MW of solar in April
The rooftop segment maintained strong growth but utility scale PV saw a slowdown on previous months. In the first four months of 2020, newly deployed PV systems added up to 1,479.5 MW of generation capacity, compared with around 1.6 GW in the same period of last year. The nation’s cumulative PV capacity hit 50.46 GW at the end of April.
Mitigating shading in PV modules with new reconfiguration technique
Scientists in India are seeking to mitigate partial shading with a technique based on the Lo Shu nine-square grid of ancient Chinese mathematical tradition. Their approach features the ‘magic grid’ also used in popular sudoku puzzles, as a guide for reconfiguring arrays.
Narendra Modi calls for a rooftop-solar-powered city in every Indian state
The prime minister again emphasized the need for India to develop its own solar manufacturing industry and also urged officials to get on with plans to make the region of Ladakh carbon-neutral.
France has breached the 10 GW solar barrier
The 182 MW of new solar capacity installed in the first quarter of the year took the nation to a total 10,072 MW, according to the Ministry of Energy’s Department of Data and Statistical Studies.
Solar could hold advantage in post-pandemic global energy sector
The International Energy Agency has acknowledged dramatic falls in energy investment caused by the Covid-19 crisis but said renewables, including PV, offered an attractive proposition to investors as the dust settled, given their enticing economics and short turnaround times.
US renewable energy surpasses coal for the first time in more than a century
The coal era could be said to be officially over in the United States.
A 17.5%-efficient dark grey solar tile
U.K. business Roof Tiles Technology Ltd has developed a solar tile with a claimed efficiency of 17.5% and power output of 175 W per square meter. The company’s founder, Antonio Lanzoni, said a PV system featuring the product would cost 25-30% more than a standard solar rooftop.
Dutch grid operators won’t have to compensate for deactivated solar rooftops
Minister of economic affairs and climate change, Eric Wiebes, has written to parliament to confirm grid companies do not have to pay PV system owners when their installations are disconnected from the network due to capacity issues or poor-quality voltage.
