• December 01, 2023

The Irish government announced last week that from today around 1,600 schools in Ireland can apply to install 16 solar panels on their roofs, equivalent to 6kW of solar power. The Department for Education, which is leading the programme, said the programme, called the Solar for Schools programme, aims to enable Ireland to meet its climate targets and help schools reduce their energy bills. The Irish government said the panels at the school will be connected to the grid and can share energy with neighbors during closures such as school holidays. The school expects to save approximately €1,200 to €1,600 ($1,311 to $1,748) per year through the program, with the first phase of the project due to be completed by the end of May.

• November 28, 2023

State Grid Corporation of China, China's largest state-owned grid operator and power company, has commissioned the Fukang pumped storage power station in northwest China's Xinjiang region. The plant is equipped with three 300 MW turbines for a total capacity of 1.2 GW, the company said in a press release, noting that the plant is the first of its kind in northwest China. It is said that these turbines will be put into operation in early 2024. Construction work started in October 2020. “The Fukang pumped storage power station can significantly improve Xinjiang’s power grid regulation capabilities and energy supply,” State Grid said. "It can ensure the stable transmission of large-scale new energy and can add 2.6 billion kilowatt-hours of new energy power generation every year." In January 2022, China’s largest pumped storage project, the 3.6 GW pumped storage power station in Fengning, Hebei Province, was put into operation. The US$1.87 billion project was started by China Gezhouba Engineering Company in 2014 and will be implemented in two phases with a total installed capacity of 1.8 GW. According to the National Energy Administration, China aims to have 62 GW of pumped hydro storage facilities operational by 2025 and 120 GW by 2030.

• November 23, 2023

The Gila River Indian Community said it has signed an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to install solar panels on irrigation canals on its property south of Phoenix, Arizona. The first phase of the project will cover approximately 1,000 feet (304.8 meters) of irrigation canals to reduce water loss through evaporation. The project is expected to demonstrate the feasibility of solar canopy irrigation canals, with the potential to add additional construction length to community solar canopy canals in subsequent phases. The Army Corps of Engineers expects to complete construction on the first phase of the project in 2025. The investment cost of the first phase of the project is US$6.744 million, which will add 1 MW of solar power generation while reducing water evaporation in the irrigation canals. The project received US$517,000 in funding from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and construction funds for the second phase of the project are also expected to come from the Bureau of Reclamation. The bureau is implementing a grant program established by Congress to pilot solar-powered irrigation canals.

• November 20, 2023

China Module Market (CMM) (the OPIS benchmark for monocrystalline PERC modules in China) and TOPCon module prices hit another record low this week, falling by $0.008/watt peak (wp) and $0.002/wp to $0.130 and $0.140/wp respectively. , according to OPIS data. Weak market sentiment and sluggish export demand continue to weigh on the component market. Module prices fell for a fourth straight week, with CMM falling by 5.8%, the largest percentage drop in more than two months. Most buyers and sellers are pricing monocrystalline PERC modules in the $0.120-130/wp range, while TOPCon modules are priced in the $0.130-140/wp range. One module seller said prices continued to fall. "Right now, we don't know how to predict module prices," he said. As the market is oversupplied, component manufacturers have reduced production, with one stakeholder estimating that the sector's overall operating rate is down 50-60% from the previous 70-80%. A component seller said that the company's current operating rate is around 60%. "At this stage, maintaining the current operating rate is sufficient," he said. He said that small factories with "inefficient production capacity" and unable to maintain production capacity will gradually withdraw from the market.

• November 17, 2023

Tender requirements have been published for four solar projects in Saudi Arabia (totaling 3.7 GW) as part of the fifth round of the Saudi Arabian government’s National Renewable Energy Tender Program (NREP). According to news sources, the four projects include the 2 GW Al Sadawi plant in the east of the country and the 1 GW (AC) Al Masa project in the northern province of Hail, as well as the 400 MW (AC) Al Henakiyah in the western province of Madinah. Phase II plant and the 300 MW (AC) Rabigh II array in western Makkah province. SPPC stated in the announcement that the project will be supervised by it. SPPC is the state-owned enterprise responsible for purchasing electricity from independent power producers and will be responsible for the early development, tendering and subsequent "offtake" of energy. These projects account for a quarter of the total energy capacity tendered (12.6 GW) as part of NREP's renewable energy programme. According to its website, NREP aims to "maximize" the country's renewable energy potential. Saudi Arabia's main solar lobby group says the government aims to produce 27.5 GW of renewable energy by 2030. By the end of last year, the country was estimated to have achieved 390 MW of installed capacity, a significant leap from the country's current installed capacity, according to the International Renewable Energy Association.

• November 14, 2023

Statistics from Instytut Energetyki Odnawialnej, a Polish research institute, show that despite the rise in the number of project rejections, the Polish solar market is still expected to see significant growth due to an increase in the number of projects receiving grid-connected permits. Instytut Energetyki Odnawialnej (IEO) revealed that as of the end of September, 6,929 PV projects with a total capacity of about 18 GW had been granted preliminary grid-connection permits. Compared to the end of March, project and planned capacity increased by 41% and 46%, respectively. Since December, Polish authorities have issued grid-connected permits for 6.6 GW of PV projects, of which 1.2 GW also received construction permits. "In total, the total capacity of PV projects with construction permits between December 2022 and November 2023 is more than 2.5GW," the IEO said. Despite new projects and increasing capacity, the country's transmission system operators have rejected many project applications. Over the past two quarters, for example, Enea has rejected 380 project applications with a total capacity of 6.28 GW and 109 projects with a total capacity of 312 MW. According to the IEO, by the end of 2022, Poland's cumulative installed PV capacity has reached 12.4 GW. By the end of 2025, its installed solar capacity could more than double to 26,791 MW. IEO's latest report shows that the country is expected to add about 5,981 MW of PV capacity this year, while 4,392 MW and 3,996 MW are expected to be added in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

• November 09, 2023

According to data from OPIS, a subsidiary of Dow Jones, solar cell prices hit a record low this week. The assessed prices of Mono Perc M10 and G12 cells were US$0.0603 per watt and US$0.0645/watt respectively, and the FOB China prices were US$0.0056/watt and US$0.0058 respectively. /watt. Last week. Prices for M10 TOPCon cells also fell by $0.0031/W on a weekly basis to $0.0690/W. Battery prices fell for the fourth consecutive week, according to OPIS data. Due to a serious lack of downstream demand, battery manufacturers have launched price wars; one battery manufacturer said they must compete to reduce prices to stimulate demand and increase sales. According to OPIS market research, the market mainstream product Mono Perc M10 battery is currently valued at approximately RMB 0.489 (USD 0.067)/W ExW in the Chinese domestic market this week. This is approximately 27% lower than the price of approximately CNY0.67/W at the beginning of the third quarter. According to industry insiders in the polysilicon industry, based on current upstream material prices, the cash cost for Tier 1 battery manufacturers to produce Mono Perc M10 batteries is approximately 0.48 yuan/W. At the same time, a second-tier cell supplier said they were losing money selling Mono Perc M10 cells at a price of 0.5 yuan/W, indicating that their production costs were higher.

• November 07, 2023

Chinese cell and solar module manufacturer BYD has recently developed a bifacial photovoltaic panel for agrivoltaics. The company has developed its new "Bem-te-vi" panels at BYD's module factory in Campinas, near São Paulo, Brazil. . Its power output is 340W to 355W, and its power conversion efficiency is 16.33%. It uses 36 half-cell, 23% efficient monocrystalline PERC cells and uses a multi-busbar architecture. A BYD Energy spokesman said the panel also has a transparent backsheet. These panels can form greenhouses or enclosures, optimizing the use of space and allowing light to reach the crops. BYD will deploy these new panels in a 100 kW agrivoltaic array at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) in Brazil.

• November 02, 2023

French independent power producer (IPP) Neoen and Swedish solar developer Alight said this morning they have begun joint development and ownership of the 100 MW Hultsfred solar project in Småland, Sweden. The project will install low-carbon photovoltaic panels around the runway of Hultsfred Airport and connect it to E.ON, Germany's largest electricity supplier. The CEO of E.ON Energidistribution pointed out that this is very important to ensure the power supply in southern Sweden. The developer plans to put the project into operation from 2025 and sell 95% of the electricity to H&M Group through a long-term power purchase agreement to support the retailer's renewable energy goals. The exact purpose of the power supply has not yet been determined.