Author: solarenergy

Multinational mining company Rio Tinto has completed installation work at the Diavik Diamond Mine in Canada and announced plans for two 5.25 MW plants at a bauxite mine in Australia’s Northern Territory. July 5, 2024 Matthew Lynas and Ev FoleyRio Tinto has completed a 3.5 MW solar power plant in Canada’s Northwest Territories, which the multinational mining company claims is the largest off-grid solar facility in the country’s territories.Located at Rio Tinto’s Diavik diamond mine, approximately 220 km south of the Arctic Circle, the site is equipped with 6,620 modules, which Rio Tinto expects to generate 4.2 GWh per year.…

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan’s carbon credit regulations will come into effect on August 15.The 38 articles of the regulation, drawn up by the Ministry of Environment (MOENV) on July 1, specify the guidelines for holding, trading and canceling carbon credits, per CNA. Carbon credits are permits that allow the owner to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide.MOENV Climate Change Administration official Kao Chun-hsuan (高俊璿) said CNA buyers and sellers should ensure that all required fees are paid. If fees are missing, the transaction process cannot be completed, resulting in the inability to obtain the carbon credits, he said.Kao…

Vietnam’s government this week issued new rules allowing direct power purchase agreements (DPPA) between independent power producers (IPPs) and energy consumers, state media said. IPPs can now sell power to end customers via the national grid or direct connecting lines. July 5, 2024 Emiliano Bellini Image: Derek Sutton, UnsplashAccording to state news agency Baochinhphu, the Vietnamese government this week issued new rules allowing DPPA between IPPs and energy consumers.The new provisions were implemented through Decree No. 80/2024/ND-CP, which is now in force. The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) will oversee the development of the PPA market.IPPs are allowed to…

The carbon offset credit market is currently facing a resurgence of criticism as more than 80 nonprofits come together to oppose their use in climate strategies. These activists argue that carbon offsets undermine real efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and are calling for their complete exclusion from climate regulations and guidelines. Carbon credits, also called offsets, have been used as a tool to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by allowing companies and governments to invest in projects that supposedly reduce or remove emissions elsewhere. This practice gained traction as part of efforts to reach net-zero emissions targets. Through this mechanism,…

An Australian-made, 10kW renewable hydrogen generator has been installed 120km east of Melbourne as part of a pilot project to provide backup to telecommunications towers knocked out by faults. July 5, 2024 Ev FoleyBy pv magazine AustraliaManufacturer of hydrogen fuel cells Energy Australia has had one of its 10kW renewable hydrogen generators installed in Neerim North, 120km east of Melbourne, as part of a AUD1.1 million ($740,000) pilot project with Telstra.The generator is installed with a Telstra mobile tower and equipped with enough renewable hydrogen to provide a capacity of at least 72 hours when the tower is switched off.…

This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives the voice to Olga Kovalchuk, Head of Finance and Investments – Managing Director at Germany’s Goldbeck Solar. She says the under-representation of women in STEM fields is impacting the pipeline of women entering both the renewable and traditional energy sectors, although this is gradually improving thanks to more targeted education initiatives. “The gender pay gap is ever-present and given the extent to which pay is linked to performance in senior roles, under-representation has a knock-on effect on the gender pay gap in the sector,” she said. July 5, 2024 Women in Solar…

Giant clams could provide the answers to making solar energy more efficient Designers of solar panels and biorefineries could learn a thing or two from iridescent giant clams that live near tropical coral reefs, according to a new Yale-led study. This is because giant clams have precise geometries – dynamic, vertical columns of photosynthetic receptors covered by a thin, light-scattering layer – making them perhaps the most efficient solar energy systems on Earth. “It’s counterintuitive to a lot of people because clams work in bright sunlight, but they’re actually very dark inside,” says Alison Sweeney, associate professor of physics and…

From Heat to Electricity Did you know that the global solar energy capacity reached over 760 gigawatts in 2023, making it one of the fastest-growing sources of renewable energy? With an increasing number of homeowners and businesses turning to solar power, understanding the different types of solar technologies is more important than ever. Solar Thermal Energy captures and uses the sun’s heat for various applications like water heating, space heating, and electricity generation through concentrated solar power (CSP) systems. On the other hand, Solar Panels convert sunlight directly into electricity using photovoltaic cells, which can be used for residential, commercial,…

Researchers in Italy have developed a low-temperature encapsulation technique that reportedly improves the stability of perovskite PV devices. They said the new technique reduces thermomechanical stresses caused by both the encapsulation process and the temperature gradients that occur during accelerated aging stresses. July 5, 2024 Valerie ThompsonA group of researchers led by Tor Vergata University of Rome in Italy has developed a new perovskite solar cell and module encapsulation process that reportedly increases device stability without the need for advanced perovskite chemistry with high internal stability or specific edge sealants.The team said their new encapsulation reduces thermomechanical stresses at the…

From pv magazine 24/06Some regions have a lot of industry but limited renewable energy sources, while other regions have the opposite. Securing community acceptance of the infrastructure to get power where it is needed can be both enormously complex and remarkably simple.“Talk and listen. It’s that simple,” says Nancy Kluth, spokesperson for the Amprion project for the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. “Go in, talk to the people, really listen to what makes sense for them, and then find a way to compromise, if you can, or to adapt and adapt what you hear and what you learn your…