Solar Power First

Even with all the other points of focus in the country at present, the US has been surging ahead with its increase in battery storage capacity, achieving a 240% increase in additions made in Q3 of this year as compared to Q2 and closing in on 1.5 GW of overall battery storage capacity by the end of the year. Still, not content to rest on their laurels, renewable energy advocates in the US are looking to see this total increase fivefold before the end of 2025, with the aim of seeing a staggering 7.5 GW of storage capacity across the nation’s growing number of solar and wind farms. California alone has around 500 MW of storage projects currently under construction, in the hopes of supporting an area which has some of the highest energy costs in America. The range of environmental and economic benefits offered by renewable energy has definitely seen it capture the attention of many decision makers across the US. Felix Maire, a senior analyst at S&P Global Platts Analytics, summed up t...

Another positive announcement for the global solar industry came with the news that there will soon be two new solar panel factories opening in Algeria, built by Milltech and Zergoun Green Energy and equipped to supply around 260 MWp of solar panels per year. Algeria’s energy commission Cerefe, standing for Commissariat aux énergies renouvelables et à l’efficacité énergétique, announced the new factories in its first annual report, published recently. Cerefe stated that the factory under construction in the industrial zone of Boukherana, which is around 250 miles from Algiers, could be commissioned before the end of the year. It belongs to Milltech and is projected to produce around 100 MWp of solar panels per year.  Milltech say of their solar production process: “Thanks to our ability to produce standard and high voltage modules in monocrystalline and polycrystalline technologies, glass-glass and bifacial modules, as well as half cut cell modules, we believe that our product seri...

Our team are used to covering positive stories around new solar projects and the environmental and economic benefits they can bring, but today’s story is a little different. Today we bring news of an enormous fine from the EU towards the Netherlands for allegedly evading duties they should have paid on solar imports. When we say enormous, we mean 659 MILLION EUROS enormous! The Netherlands are challenging the ruling, saying it is not justified. The charges relate to anti-dumping and countervailing duties that were allegedly avoided between May 2015 and March 2017, in relation to solar imports from  China, Malaysia and Taiwan. Such duties were introduced in 2013 as part of EU regulation on the growing solar industry.  The EU ruling suggests that the Netherlands failed to impose €824 million worth of anti-dumping  and countervailing duties on imports across the aforementioned 22 month period. They believe  an incorrect interpretation of the rules imposed by the Europe...

Kenya are set to add 80MW through the creation of two now 40MW solar plants being built in 2021, a significant increase for a nation who generates approximately 200MW of solar at present. Kenya’s energy regulator made the announcement recently, with Caroline Kimathi, who is the principal renewable energy officer at the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), stating "Private investors have received approval to build two solar electric plants at 40 MW each that will be operational in 2021." Kimathi was speaking to a forum reviewing a draft regulation on solar energy. Kenya currently imports more than 90% of the solar equipment it uses, with local production limited. Regulations being proposed  in the country will recommend various key standards for solar equipment imported into the nation in order  to safeguard Kenyan consumers. There is plenty of potential for the nation to increase its capacity even further, with Kenya an ideal location for solar energy generation...

  If there’s one thing we know about Texas, it’s that it’s huge. If there’s another thing we know, it’s that it gets its fair share of sunshine. With that in mind, it makes it the perfect place for a large-scale solar project, which is exactly what Nestle are in the process of doing, a project that will prove to be their largest renewable energy investment to date. The solar project, which will cover around 2,000 acres, is making use of NextTracker components, Power Electronics’ Freesun HEM inverters and in the region of 855,000 Jinko Solar modules. The project, named Taygete I, has generated more than 300 jobs during peak construction. Over the life of the new construction, it is expected to generate tens of millions of dollars in property tax revenue for Texas. 7X Energy, who are a utility-scale solar developer, have partnered with Nestlé as the sole tax equity investor, with 7X also being the project owner and asset manager. Their CEO, Clay Butler, commented on the project, sayi...

  We’re always interested to hear about the different ways that nations are making use of solar, from homes, to offices to major industry, but one area we haven’t covered much to date is tourism and hospitality. That’s why it was so interesting to us to hear recently that Saudi Arabia appears to be planning what is claimed to be the world’s largest battery storage site, which they plan to use to power a huge new tourist complex by the Red Sea. The project, which is estimated to take a decade to reach its full completion, is being carried out by The Red Sea Development Company and is going to use an eventual 1GWh-worth of battery storage to ensure that the biggest holiday complex on the planet will be fully powered by renewable energy 24/7. The first phase will include the addition of 210MW in wind and solar generation, with the aim of being in place by 2022 and powering the 12 hotels and an airport that should be up and running by this point.   By the time the project culminat...

  We love hearing about companies who are taking ownership over their environmental impact and making the switch to renewable energy. This week, we were particularly pleased to hear about a recent milestone reached by SPAR Austria. Since 2010, SPAR Austria has put a real focus on powering their stores via renewable energy. During November, they added solar panels to the roof of the SPAR Supermarket in Wolkersdorf, Lower Austria, alongside solar storage. This happened to be their 100th solar-powered store in the country!  During 2019, SPAR’s rooftop solar systems at their stores generated around 4.8 MWh of green electricity, used onsite and bringing a CO2 reduction of around 800 tonnes. SPAR uses their solar energy to power instore cooling, lighting and IT systems.  They’re not stopping there though, as SPAR Austria currently spends around €1m per year on the expansion of solar energy, and they plan to continue to expand this scheme across the county. With the increase in ...

Just when you think you’ve heard of everything with regards to solar innovation, news of a car park where every space is roofed by a solar panel comes and opens your eyes to new possibilities! This is the project recently announced by Aviva, and supported by the Scottish Government, is one of the UK’s biggest solar carport and energy storage facilities. This project covers 342 car park spaces alongside around 50 electric vehicle charging stations. The project is estimated to lead to an annual saving of nearly 400 tonnes of carbon emission, equivalent to powering 500 homes for a full year. It means Aviva’s office can go “off grid” for around  five hours per day at peak national grid times, with surplus energy stored in solar batteries for later use. Aviva employs 2,000 people in Scotland, with around half of those at their Perth office, home to its property claims centre for commercial and personal property.  Nick Amin, who is Aviva’s chief operating officer, shared: “It’s vit...

When it comes to the global solar investment race, we’re used to seeing China, the USA and a few others at the top of the list, but it was exciting to see India make a huge commitment to solar in recent days. The government of India has announced a funding package that includes over £450m - or 45 BILLION Indian rupees! - of investment over the next five years. This funding will be put into the production of solar panels and solar storage as part of developing high-efficiency PV projects across the country. This solar investment is part of a move by India’s cabinet to help boost domestic manufacturers, become globally competitive in a number of new industries, create economies of scale and increase exports.  The government said their solar investment “will incentivise domestic and global players to build large-scale solar PV capacity in India and help India leapfrog in capturing the global value chains for solar PV manufacturing”. A further 181 billion rupees, around £1.8bn has bee...

  We like to keep an eye on a range of different industry factors that are impacting solar for better or worse, and one potentially worrying one that caught our eye recently is to do with the availability of glass for solar production in the coming months.  Some of the world’s biggest solar power companies have stated that a shortage of glass is both increasing costs and delaying the speed of their production of new panels, which is hindering China’s - and possibly other nations - plans to accelerate their shift towards clean and renewable energy. Price levels for the type of glass that coats solar panels have risen by a staggering 71% since July, with glass manufacturers struggling to produce it fast enough to keep more than a week’s worth of sales in inventory, according to Daiwa Capital Markets.  The shortage comes as the solar industry turns toward bifacial panels, which increase both power output and glass requirements. Solar panel producers like Longi Green Energy ...

Purchasing your own yacht has long been a signature move for those who move into the multi-millionaire bracket, but are you aware that a new breed of eco-friendly yachts are now on offer? I’m not suggesting that any of us are in the market to buy one, although I don’t want to discount the possibility that we may have multi-millionaires within our readership! Either way, we thought it was an interesting story to read about some of the environmentally-friendly customisations that can be made to modern yachts. One such yacht that has been ghe 60 Sunreef Power Eco yacht also has an electric engine and could be the future of environmentally friendly sea travel for those willing to splash out on a catamaran. The yacht is said to provide silent and vibration-free cruising. Its twin engines are powered by battery storage. They are said to allow for up to six hours of cruising in silence before they'll need charging with further solar energy. The batteries can also power all the appliances ...

While many industries have been hit hard by the impacts of COVID-19, with some even becoming obsolete, solar is certainly one that is continuing to grow in its impact and importance. There are many countries who are leading the way with solar panel production and widespread implementation, but it is China who has been making many of the most large-scale moves, often alongside international partners. This is certainly the case with a new production centre opening in Brazil. The Brazilian arm of Amerisolar, a Chinese maker of solar panels, will open a new factory in early 20201, with the new site it is building being near the southeastern Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte, as reported by Brazilian media outlet Estado de Minas.  The Brazilian newspaper says the factory will employ 100 people directly and help create up to 2,200 new jobs in other companies. The story also says that the factory is meant to produce 30,000 panels a month, with around half of them likely to be used for exp...

  In an interesting announcement from Sudan’s Ministry of Energy, a yet-to-be-announced solar company from the UAE has agreed to construct several large scale solar plants across the African nation.  Khairy Abdul Rahmanhas, who is Sudan’s minister of energy and mining, met with the general director of the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development , Mohamed Saif Al Suwaidi, last week to sign a memorandum of understanding for the construction of these solar power plants.  In an exciting move, these new projects will become Sudan’s first solar parks and will offer a combined solar capacity of 500 MW in Sudan. The Sudanese government plan to purchase the generated electricity at a competitive price over the next 20 years from these solar parks which will be built by UAE-based companies.  Sudan has, up to now, had one of the lowest levels of solar production in Africa, despite having one of the best levels for solar radiation of any nation in the world, so it was a prime location fo...

We’re always on the lookout for the more weird and wonderful locations that are being made use of as solar projects, so we were definitely interested to hear that Australia’s largest free-range chicken farm launched a big solar and storage system earlier this month. The chicken-adjacent project offers 1.4 MW of rooftop solar and 2.28 MWh of energy storage, utilising five lithium-ion batteries. The project in question is the Riverlands Free Range poultry farm in South Australia, which happens to be the nation’s largest free-range chicken farm. AAM – the investment group which owns the farm – have made the move to add 1.4 MW of solar panels and a 2.28 MWh Tesla lithium-ion battery system alongside an announcement that it is the largest energy storage system installed on a commercial farm in Australia. AAM’s managing director, Garry Edwards and his colleague Ben Edser revealed that the entire solar sustainability project cost in the region of 5 million Australian dollars, which is roughly...