• July 31, 2023

French renewable energy producer CVE has installed the first RespeeR Flex solar power plant on an industrial site owned by safety equipment manufacturer MSA Group. The 187 kW installation will cover nearly 10% of the total energy consumption at the MSA facility, located in Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne, Ain, France. The photovoltaic system is detachable as its photovoltaic modules are placed on the ground and ballasted on the ground. Assembly takes just 10 months, CVE said, compared to 24 months for a traditional installation. "The solution ... greatly facilitated the validation phase within the MSA team," said Christophe Laurent, MSA Maintenance and Infrastructure Manager. "Our group insurance company approved it very quickly." Enterprises with land reserves that cannot be used in the short term can use these small photovoltaic power plants to produce part of the electricity for a limited time. After this date, they can choose to extend the contract or stop it in order to use the land for other purposes.

• July 24, 2023

The country's cumulative installed PV capacity reached 470 GW by the end of June, China's National Energy Administration (NEA) said. In the first six months of this year, China added 78.42 gigawatts of new photovoltaic systems, and 17.2 gigawatts were deployed in June alone. New solar power installations in the first two months of 2023 reached 20.37 GW, followed by 13.29 GW in March, 14.65 GW in April and 12.9 GW in May. The China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA) said polysilicon output rose 65% year-on-year in the first half to more than 600,000 tons, and wafer output rose 63% to 250 gigawatts. In the first six months of 2023, solar cell production jumped 62% to more than 220 GW, and photovoltaic module production jumped 60% year-on-year to about 200 GW. The export value of China's photovoltaic products also exceeded 29 billion US dollars, an increase of about 13% year-on-year. Europe is China's largest module export market, and Asia is China's largest market for silicon wafers and solar cells.

• July 20, 2023

Brazil has announced a new 2 GW solar strategy. The country plans to build 2 million affordable housing units by 2026, and each household will deploy two sets of photovoltaic modules to provide 1 kilowatt of electricity. This week, under the leadership of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian government relaunched the Minha Casa Minha Vida (My Home, My Life) affordable housing project . The project was initially launched by Lula's government between 2003 and 2011 before being interrupted by Jair Bolsonaro's government. As before, the new project also includes large-scale deployment of photovoltaic systems. Its goal is to build 2 million affordable housing units by 2026, and each household will deploy two sets of solar modules to provide 1 kilowatt of electricity. According to data released by the Brazilian Photovoltaic Solar Energy Association (ABSolar), the project will add 2 GW of distributed photovoltaic installed capacity, thereby reducing household electricity bills by 70%. The service covers households with a monthly income of BRL 8,000 (US$ 1,660) in urban areas and BRL 96,000 in rural areas. In June, Brazil's Chamber of Deputies approved the new plan, allowing funds from the Severance Payment Compensation Fund (FGTS) to be used for public lighting, basic sanitation, public roads and stormwater drainage projects.

• 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.