• July 17, 2023

Germany's Agri Energie has started an agricultural PV project in Hallertau near Munich, Bavaria, Germany. The €1.5 million ($1.64 million) project combines solar power with hop growing. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems and the Weinstein-Trisdorf University of Applied Sciences are supporting Agri Energy in developing the facility. The facility will occupy an area of 1.3 hectares and generate enough electricity to power around 200 households. The company installed photovoltaic systems on steel masts to provide protection for the hop plants from the sun and hail, while also reducing evaporation. In addition, the system provides support for the hop plants. "This pilot project will provide us with many valuable insights, which are closely related to future agricultural photovoltaic projects," said Bavarian Economy Minister Hubert Aiwanger. "The local potential is also great. After all, the Hallertau region grows 17,200 hectares of hops." In July this year, France's Q Energy Company installed an agricultural photovoltaic device on 1 hectare of land in the town of Luçon, France, for the growth of hops.

• July 13, 2023

The Japan Green Investment Promotion Organization has released the final results of its latest utility-scale solar project auction. The state-run agency said 119.7 MW of PV projects were selected in the procurement exercise. This is the sixteenth utility-scale solar auction in Japan. It was supposed to allocate 105 MW of generation capacity. The 20 projects selected range in size from 139.6 kW to 89.6 MW. The lowest bid was 9 yen/kWh, the highest bid was 9.34 yen/kWh, and the final average price was 9.48 yen/kWh. The ceiling price is set at 9.50 yen/kWh.

• July 10, 2023

Trina Solar, JinkoSolar, JA Solar, LONGi Solar, Risen Energy, Canadian Solar, Tongwei, Chint, and Das Solar jointly called for the standardization of rectangular silicon wafers to solve supply problems and reduce material waste , Enhance product application in various markets. The nine manufacturers proposed a new PV panel size of 2,382mm x 1,134mm based on the agreed rectangular wafer size. Trina Solar said it planned to raise 10.9 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) by issuing 652,027,699 A shares to institutional investors. The company said it would use the net proceeds from the share offering to build its 10-gigawatt solar cell and module factory in Huai'an, east China's Jiangsu province.

• July 03, 2023

The European Photovoltaic Industry Association (SolarPower Europe) released a new version of the Agricultural Photovoltaic Guide to provide support for project developers, scientific research institutions and policy makers in formulating agricultural photovoltaic plans. The PV trade body showcased business cases from several European countries and shared best practices in operations and maintenance (O&M) as well as engineering, procurement and construction (EPC). This document sets out minimum requirements, best practices and recommendations for project developers and policy makers, and is based on the experience of the European Photovoltaic Industry Association from its Land Use and Permitting Workflow Group. The report also provides a selection of selected business cases on different European countries and showcases EPC and O&M best practices. At the same time, this introduces the most innovative technologies for the construction of agricultural photovoltaic power plants. European Photovoltaic Industry Association stated: "The report is aimed at solar and agricultural companies, investors, landowners, government departments, local authorities, industry associations, scientific research centres, consultancies, suppliers and any other agricultural photovoltaic stakeholders. .”

• June 28, 2023

The Clean Energy Association (CEA) conducted a safety audit of more than 600 rooftop photovoltaic systems and found that 97% of the installations had major safety issues. Of these, 49% had grounding issues, 47% had damaged components, and 41% had connector cross-mating issues. The CEA conducted a safety audit of more than 600 rooftop photovoltaic systems and found that 97% of the installations had major safety issues. The inspection covers the US, UK, Italy, Spain, India, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and France. The company released a new report sharing key audit findings, identifying the top 10 most common security issues in audited systems. The report shows that 49% of sites had grounding issues, 47% had damaged components, 41% had connector cross-mating issues, 40% had poorly terminated and improperly assembled connectors, 31% had component hot spots, and 27% had Cables were laid on sharp edges, 26% had broken or damaged connectors and water ingress, and 19% had hot spots on the housing. Most of these hidden dangers are caused by improper installation. This means that most of these issues are relatively easy to identify and fix before creating fires, safety risks and potentially costly liabilities. The CEA found that grounding issues mostly occurred at inverter or equipment pads, between PV array blocks and module rows, and along extended conduit, which constituted the most common safety issues. The company also found that module damage was often caused by improper installation or cleaning methods, including walking on modules and exposure to extreme weather events such as hail or high winds. Connector cross-mating problems are often caused by a misunderstood UL-certified connector mating and the use of field-assembled connectors that do not match component connectors, the CEA said.

• June 25, 2023

The President of Romania has passed a new law to shorten the permitting process for installing solar projects on buildable land of less than 50 hectares. The new law passed by the Romanian President simplifies the permitting process for the development of renewable energy projects on buildable land. This follows an amendment to Law 50/1991 passed by the Romanian Parliament in January. These amendments allow photovoltaic, wind energy, biomass, biomass liquid, biomass gas, energy storage projects and substations to be built on agricultural land with an area of less than 50 hectares. The government's move comes as it removes the requirement to obtain a regional urban plan (PUZ), one of the most time-consuming stages of the permitting process. With the adoption of Law No. 166/2023 of June 10, 2023, Romania will also remove the PUZ requirement for buildable land, and project developers will only need to obtain approval for all building permits once. For example, in the past if a developer wanted to build a 130 MW project on a 130-hectare piece of land, they had to divide the project into three parts and apply for approval for each part separately.

• June 21, 2023

It's the Dragon Boat Festival again, have you eaten zongzi today? Xiamen Wintop New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. Holiday Notice: Our company will be on holiday for the Dragon Boat Festival from June 22nd to June 24th. Our business will return to normal on June 25th. Sorry for any inconvenience caused by our holiday. For any sales inquiries and support, please email info@xmwintop.com and we will reply as soon as we resume work. I wish you a healthy Dragon Boat Festival!

• June 19, 2023

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) report, photovoltaic manufacturing capacity led by China is expected to more than double by 2024, but there will also be an oversupply. Global solar PV manufacturing capacity will nearly double to nearly 1 TW next year, the IEA said. The expansion would be sufficient to meet the agency's annual net-zero carbon requirements through 2050, which forecast PV deployments to reach nearly 650 GW in 2030 and nearly 310 GW in 2024. In 2022, global photovoltaic manufacturing capacity will increase by more than 70%, reaching nearly 450 GW, of which China accounts for more than 95% of the new capacity in the entire supply chain. Global PV manufacturing capacity is expected to double in 2023 and 2024, with China again accounting for more than 90% of the increase. Chinese manufacturers are investing in expanding wafer, cell and module manufacturing in Southeast Asia. In addition, affected by the new industrial policy introduced last year, India and the United States are also expected to deploy manufacturing plants. India's Production Linked Incentive (PLI) program and the U.S.' Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) have led to a surge in new solar manufacturing projects, with more than 120% of such projects announced between November 2022 and May 2023, and are expected to A national supply chain with a production capacity of more than 20 GW has been formed in these two countries.

• June 16, 2023

According to the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (SolarPower Europe), the global new solar power generation capacity in 2022 will be 239 GW. Among them, the installed capacity of rooftop photovoltaics accounted for 49.5%, reaching the highest point in the past three years. Rooftop PV installations in Brazil, Italy and Spain increased by 193%, 127% and 105% respectively. At this week's Intersolar Europe in Munich, Germany, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association released the latest version of the "Global Market Outlook 2023-2027". According to the report, 239 GW of new solar power generation capacity will be added globally in 2022, equivalent to an average annual growth rate of 45%, reaching the highest level since 2016. This is another record year for the solar industry. China has once again become the main force, adding nearly 100 GW of power generation capacity in a single year, a growth rate as high as 72%. The United States is firmly in second place, although its installed capacity has fallen to 21.9 GW, a decrease of 6.9%. Then there are India (17.4 GW) and Brazil (10.9 GW). According to the association, Spain is becoming the largest PV market in Europe with 8.4 GW of installed capacity. These figures differ slightly from other research firms. For example, according to BloombergNEF, global photovoltaic installed capacity has reached 268 GW in 2022. Overall, 26 countries and regions around the world will add more than 1 GW of new solar capacity in 2022, including China, the United States, India, Brazil, Spain, Germany, Japan, Poland, the Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, Italy, France , Taiwan, Chile, Denmark, Turkey, Greece, South Africa, Austria, United Kingdom, Mexico, Hungary, Pakistan, Israel and Switzerland.