Author: solarenergy

The company plans to invest £2 billion in renewable energy projects by 2030. Image: Octopus Energy. The generation arm of British energy giant Octopus Energy has announced it has acquired four new solar projects across England as part of a plan to invest £2 billion in renewable energy projects by 2030. Four new solar farms currently under development have been acquired from renewable energy developer BayWa.re, with a combined generation capacity of 222 MW. One of the sites will also host a 30 MW battery energy storage system (BESS). The projects will be spread across England, with locations in Bristol,…

German inverter manufacturer SMA Solar Technology AG has launched a restructuring plan aimed at saving €200 million ($223 million) for financial stabilization and market repositioning. September 26, 2024 Sandra Enkhardt Image: SMA Solar Technology AGBy pv magazine GermanySMA Solar Technology AG has launched a “group-wide restructuring and transformation program”. The board hopes to achieve cost savings of an estimated €150 million to €200 million.“With the restructuring and transformation program that has now started, we will stabilize SMA financially in the short term and at the same time adapt the business strategy for the medium and long term,” said Jürgen Reinert,…

Everoze Partner Nithin Rajavelu considers the critical importance of properly measuring and managing battery health (SoC) for the efficiency, longevity and safety of battery energy storage system (BESS) projects, especially in lithium ferrous phosphate (LFP) devices, which are widely used for large-scale storage. September 26, 2024 Nithin Rajavelu SoC is typically expressed as a percentage of a battery’s total energy storage capacity. For example, an SoC of 50% means that a battery is half charged. Accurate and reliable SoC measurement is essential for optimizing battery performance and maximizing revenue. Inaccurate SoC measurements can have significant financial consequences. For example, overestimating…

The battery is intended for two hours of storage in large-scale and C&I applications. It is said to have a round trip efficiency of 88% and a lifespan of 8,000 cycles. September 26, 2024 Emiliano Bellini By ESS newsChina-based energy storage systems provider Relyez has launched a 5 MWh battery for utility-scale, commercial and industrial (C&I) applications.“This modular, non-walk-in container is designed for rapid deployment, minimizing both installation and maintenance costs,” said company CEO Naomi Zhang. ESS news.The GridUltra 5016 is a two-hour energy storage system with a capacity of 5,016 MWh. It consists of 12 RelyEZ Battery Racks connected…

Panasonic will integrate new smart thermostats and energy management software into its Aquarea system from November. The new solutions are also designed to enable PV system owners to manage their heat pumps based on local weather forecasts. September 26, 2024 Emiliano Bellini Panasonic’s Aquarea heat pumpImage: PanasonicPanasonic has said it will integrate a range of home energy management solutions into its Aquarea air-to-water heat pumps for multi-home commercial and residential applications from November.The company said its product will be equipped with the Balance smart thermostats and Heat Pump Optimizer X management system from Germany-based Tado.“This new integrated solution is managed…

First Solar held the grand opening of its new 3.5 GW solar panel manufacturing facility in Lawrence County, Alabama. The $1.1 billion fully vertically integrated thin-film solar panel manufacturing facility is First Solar’s first U.S. factory outside of Ohio. Once at full capacity the site could support 800 jobs. “This is the first of two fully vertically integrated solar manufacturing facilities that strengthen the role of the Gulf Coast states in enabling America’s comprehensive energy strategy,” said Mark Widmar, CEO of First Solar. “This energy technology manufacturing facility produces American-made solar panels, with American-made components sourced from a supply chain…

An international research group demonstrated the first perovskite solar cells on polycarbonate substrates, suitable for flexible PV applications. Using an industrially compatible manufacturing method, the group produced devices with an energy conversion efficiency of 13.0%, of which 87% was retained after 1000 bending cycles at a 20 mm radius. September 26, 2024 Valerie ThompsonAn international research group demonstrated a method to fabricate perovskite solar cells on polycarbonate substrates that is compatible with industrial production processes for flexible PV devices.“Here we developed the very first perovskite solar cell on polycarbonate films with an energy conversion efficiency of 13.0% by developing a…

Puget Sound Energy (PSE) has announced two major projects in Washington state that will help add more clean energy to its portfolio. The first is the development of a utility-scale solar facility, known as Appaloosa Solar Project, which PSE will own and operate. The second is a power purchase agreement signed with BrightNight for a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), known as the Greenwater project. Together, the projects could generate up to 342 MW of energy to support PSE’s commitment to diversify its mix of renewable resources and meet the state’s Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA) goals. Since the approval…

Site C is one of four sites that will be developed under the proposals. Image: Brockwell solar and storage. British developer Brockwell Solar and Storage, formerly RNA Energy, has opened regulatory consultations for a proposed solar and battery storage development north-west of St Neots, on the Cambridgeshire-Bedfordshire border. The East Park development would include a ground-mounted solar photovoltaic power plant with a capacity of 400 MW and a 100 MW battery energy storage system (BESS). The development will include an on-site substation and will be connected via underground cable to the existing electricity transmission network at National Grid’s Eaton Socol…

Researchers in Spain have developed a new method to select those water bodies within a range of water bodies where investment in floating PV could be most beneficial. They combined geographic information systems, multi-criteria analysis and intelligent optimization. The new approach reportedly results in up to 8.4% better LCOE compared to conventional methods. September 26, 2024 Lior KahanaA group of Spanish scientists propose a new framework for stakeholders to assess and optimize floating PV farms (FPV).The proposed approach is aimed at investors and policy makers as it reportedly allows them to find the most favorable water bodies for FPV installation…