Solar power

Researchers at the solar-cell technology institute Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB) have developed a tandem solar cell that converts 32.5% of incident solar radiation into electrical energy – a world record.

Tokyo’s local assembly today ruled that all new houses built by large-scale homebuilders in the Japanese capital must have solar panels installed from April 2025.

First Solar, the largest solar panel maker in the US, announced today that it will supply clean energy company National Grid Renewables with 1.6 gigawatts (GW) of solar panels – and that’s a very big deal.

German manufacturer Kopp has launched a foldable, four-panel solar rooftop system that comes with everything it needs for installation in reusable transport boxes.

A 90 megawatt (MW) solar farm will be built around the runway of an airport in Sweden, and it will be the largest solar power purchase agreement (PPA) contracted in Sweden to date.

Electric watercraft are an increasingly popular segment of the boating market. But a new electric catamaran from Sweden known as the POL Lux is taking it one step further with an electric boat that recharges from the sun.

Erthos, an Arizona energy tech company that makes Earth Mount Solar PV, a mounting system that secures solar panels flat to the ground, signed an agreement with renewable energy developer Industrial Sun for a 100+ megawatt (MW) solar project in Texas. It will become the only utility-scale solar farm mounted flat on the ground to date.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $8 million in research funding for six agrivoltaics projects – that is, pairing solar with farming.

Wind and solar are set to account for over 90% of global electricity expansion over the next five years, overtaking coal to become the largest source of global electricity by early 2025, according to “Renewables 2022,” the latest edition of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) annual report on the renewable sector.

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has determined that four out of eight Chinese solar companies that it’s been investigating are “attempting to bypass US duties by doing minor processing in one of the Southeast Asian countries before shipping to the United States.” Here’s what it means for the US solar industry.

The largest landfill solar project in North America, a 25.6 megawatt (MW) solar farm in Mount Olive, New Jersey, is online – which means yet another dumpsite has been turned into a revenue-generating, clean energy asset.

Renewable energy provided almost 23% of electrical generation in the US during the first three quarters of 2022, according to new data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and reviewed by the SUN DAY Campaign.

San Francisco-headquartered Sunrun, the largest residential solar and battery storage installer in the US, yesterday posted on social media that its transition to electric fleet vehicles is under way with a photo of Sunrun-branded Ford F-150 Lightnings.

Swell Energy today announced that it has raised $120 million to grow its virtual power plants (VPPs). Virtual power plants allow clean energy to be quickly added to the grid to address frequency and voltage imbalances, local disruptions, and keep the grid stable.

Enel North America, through its affiliate 3Sun USA, today announced that it will build one of the largest solar PV factories in the US. Initially, it’s expected to produce at least 3 gigawatts (GW) and scale up to 6 GW of high-performance bifacial PV modules and cells annually. This facility will be among the first in the US to produce solar cells, a vital part of the supply chain.

First Solar, the largest American solar panel maker, will invest up to $1.2 billion to ramp up production of US-made solar panels. The announcement follows the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act in August, which incentivizes domestic clean energy manufacturing.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) – the largest utility in the United States – will launch a first-of-its-kind pilot program to determine whether closed coal ash storage sites can host utility-scale solar.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the nonprofit trade association of the US solar industry, just flagged a proposed change to the 2024 International Building Code by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that would do more harm than good to the US solar industry.

Dallas-based Hover Energy, which makes wind-powered microgrids with solar and storage, is going to begin commercial-scale production in January 2023. And potential customers can feel confident about the resiliency of the company’s rooftop-mounted microgrids – one survived 105 mph winds during Hurricane Ian.

The Japanese government is discussing the possibility of remotely controlling privately owned ACs and water heaters in order to avoid power outages as the country switches to renewables.

In France, solar just got a huge boost from new legislation approved through the Senate this week that will require all parking lots with spaces for at least 80 vehicles – both existing and new – to be covered by solar panels.