PV plant

Risen Solar has unveiled plans for a 15 GW cell and module fab in Yiwu City, Zhejiang province and China South Glass is fundraising for a PV glass factory in Anhui province. Such growth, however, may be slowed by the introduction of new standards by the government.

The deal is the fourth power purchase agreement secured by Voltalia in its homeland. French retailer Auchan will buy the electricity under a 20-year contract.

The parent of Italian tracker business Convert has entered the Brazilian solar market with plans for agri-business products and other systems.

U.S. researchers have created a new model to assess the overlap between solar potential and underlying land use. The areas with the largest potential are the western United States, southern Africa, and the Middle East. The researchers concluded that croplands, grasslands, and wetlands are the top three land classes for PV projects linked to agricultural activities, while barren terrain, traditionally prioritized for solar PV system installation, ranked fifth.

The projects – to be developed in three phases of 1 GW each – will be completed by the end of 2023. While the first and third phases will be developed under public-private partnerships, the second phase will be built under India’s Central Public Sector Undertaking Scheme.

The 9.4 MW Robinvale Solar Farm is Suntech’s first 100%-owned project in the Australian pipeline to come to fruition and the first solar project in the country to deploy WePower’s blockchain-based PPA architecture, which opens up opportunities for smaller corporate customers to go green with their procurement strategies.

Fiat Chrysler has begun construction of a vehicle-to-grid pilot at its Mirafiori manufacturing facility in Turin. The project, which also includes 5 MW of PV, will eventually become a virtual power plant.

The Scottish water provider is seeking proposals for the development and construction of several solar plants ranging in size from 50 kW to 50 MW. The installations can be a combination of ground-mounted PV systems and rooftop arrays.

Researchers from the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore have concluded that utility-scale PV projects relying on bifacial panels and single-axis trackers deliver the lowest levelized cost of energy in most of the world. They found that the combination of bifacial products with dual-axis trackers is still too expensive, despite the higher yield. The second-lowest LCOE is offered by monofacial single-axis tracker plants.

Dutch solar developer Sonnedix will supply Norwegian renewables company Statkraft with around 100 GWh of green electricity annually from 2021 to 2031. The electricity will be generated by a solar plant planned in Badajoz. Sonnedix also announced the acquisition of 4.6 MW more Spanish solar capacity.