EGEB: Bifaciality record set at 82.1%, 1100kV DC powerlines in China to move renewables, 80GW Tier1 capacity, more

Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Featured Image Source.

Longi claims 82.15% bifaciality record for its PERC solar cell – Bifaciality is commonly defined as the ratio of the output measured from the rearside of a cell over the output measured from its front side. According to Longi, the bifaciality of standard bifacial PERC solar in the market is currently around 75%. The manufacturer announced it has achieved an 82.15% bifaciality world record for its bifacial PERC monocrystalline cell, dubbed Hi-MO2. Bifacial is real folks, and even if you only get 10% more electricity because your roof doesn’t reflect as nicely as others, you’re still getting 10% more energy. In perfect settings, I’ve read of efficiency going up 30% – though I’ve not seen it personally.

Thyssenkrupp Sees Growing EV Lithium-Ion Battery Demand Driving €1 Billion In Factory Gear Orders Over Next Decade – Smart people in the world have told me a thing or two, and one of those things: When there is a gold rush, don’t mine gold – sell pick axes. Thyssenkrupp sells machines that make pick axes. Thyssenkrupp, for those unfamiliar with it, is one of the top companies in the world as regards assembly line equipment for automated car battery production. The company actually now derives around a quarter of all group sales from the auto industry. Factories being built to change the world.

ABB transforms Chinese grid – SGCC executive vice president Liu ZeHong said: “The Changji-Guquan +/-1,100kV project is a major technical step-up making it the world’s highest DC voltage. Global expertise being gained in DC power lines at record high voltages.

‘Buried in marshes’: sea-level rise could destroy historic sites on US east coast – Threatened areas, including locations on the national register of historic places, include Native American sites that date back more than 10,000 years, as well as early colonial settlements such as Jamestown, Virginia and Charleston, South Carolina. History will be owned by the seas.

6 Ways to Encourage American Solar Manufacturing Without Import Duties – 1) Support domestic products with a tiered investment tax credit. 2) Expand federal targets for renewable procurement. 3) Direct collected duties toward supporting domestic manufacturing. 4) Provide loan support or guarantees for U.S. suppliers. 5) Subsidize the solar supply chain. 6) Provide assistance for workforce and technology development. What we need recognize is that the Chinese have made a national choice to push solar power. The USA makes it a national choice to push weapons systems and fight wars in the Middle East over oil. This is why we’re losing. A tariff slowing us down is simply politicians being owned by those who control their campaign funding. If we’re going to cut our nose off, in spite of free sunshine, we might as well cut strategically.

Solar PV 2018: Installs of 111 GW, a polysilicon factory boom and $0.30/W for modules – The article title gives a whole lot of information about projections for the next two years. One datapoint I’m most interested in though is the below chart. While we might have 120-140GW of global solar panel manufacturing capacity, per BNEF, we’ve got just over 80GW of Tier 1 capacity. That means we’re using 100% of the available highest quality solar panel/solar panel companies. The article points out that this is expanding, but 100GW of 2017 installations means 25% of solar panels being installed aren’t Tier 1.

Featured image is from the Department of Energy SunShot program. Generating 5 megawatts of solar energy, the LES community solar facility in Lincoln, Nebraska is the largest and first utility-scale solar installation in the state, as well as one of the largest in the region. Photo by Randy Hampton.

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