Month: April 2024

Victorian solar generation and thermal storage company RayGen has kicked off a Series D raise with $20 million from Breakthrough Victoria alongside a US$20 million (A$31m) follow-on investment from NYSE-listed SLB, as part of plans to expand offshore.  RayGen uses proprietary photovoltaic solar modules that generate nearly 2,000 times more power than traditional photovoltaic systems under a concentrated beam of sunlight. Combined with its thermal water-based storage system, which uses heat from water used to cool the modules, RayGen has developed a high efficiency, low-cost long-duration energy storage solution. The…

Read More

The Biden administration on Monday announced the recipients of its Solar For All Program, a $7 billion climate program that aims to lower energy costs and reduce pollution in low-income communities by installing solar power systems on homes nationwide.  Funds will go to 60 recipients, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced in a news release. Forty-nine of these grants are state-level awards, five are multi-state awards, and six are going to Native American tribes.  The funding, which is provided by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, is expected to provide residential…

Read More

Enphase Energy, Inc., a global energy technology company and the world’s leading supplier of microinverter-based solar and battery systems, announced a new strategic relationship with global energy and tech company, Octopus Energy Group. The parties will focus on deploying Enphase IQ8™ Microinverters and IQ™ Battery 5P™ in the United Kingdom. Octopus Energy’s retail customers in the United Kingdom can now integrate Enphase’s home solar and battery systems into their energy plans to unlock low-cost residential energy rates. Octopus Energy will also use Kraken, its proprietary software platform for managing, controlling,…

Read More

Western Australia’s Derby Regional Hospital is looking forward to much cheaper electricity bills thanks to a newly installed commercial solar power system. After a $1.4 million investment by the Cook Government, Derby Regional Hospital now boasts a 364-kilowatt rooftop system, comprised of 910 solar panels. Horizon Power installed the system in a partnership with WA Country Health Service. It’s estimated the system will result in a $70,000 per annum reduction in “variable energy costs” for the hospital; reducing the facility’s mains grid annual energy consumption by 24 per cent, and…

Read More

Abstract The conventional MPPT method has drawbacks, such as that under partial shading conditions, several peaks occur and identifying the global peak is difficult. It may converge to a local peak and lead to poor conversion efficiency and tracking efficiency. Implementation of a hybrid algorithm by integrating P&O and metaheuristic algorithms can perform better under partial shading conditions. But the tracking speed is low and the response time is longer. To mitigate the issues mentioned above, a new hybrid algorithm has been suggested that integrates GWO and a modified fast…

Read More

Several solar panels can be seen in this picture. — AFP/File LAHORE: To ease the inflation-hit lives of low-income households facing over-bloated power bills, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Monday signed an order to provide one-kilowatt solar power systems to 50,000 households in the province free of charge. The decision was taken during a special meeting to approve the initiative titled Bill Bijli sey Nijat, Roshni k Saath (Light without Electricity Bill), which is part of the Chief Minister’s Roshan Punjab Programme in Lahore. The provincial chief executive…

Read More

Read More

In a recent paper published in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers from the University of Michigan revealed that greater adoption of rooftop solar technology could accelerate efforts to decarbonize the power generation system in the United States and worldwide. Waterfall charts showing the average change in household revenues from solar per unit of installed solar under a moderate climate warming scenario (RCP 4.5). Subplots (a) and (b) show the changes from 2000 to 2050 and 2100, respectively. Purple bars indicate the total change in household revenues. Blue and orange…

Read More

Germany-based Sinn Power plans to build a 1.8 MW floating PV system with vertically deployed solar modules. Construction is expected to start this summer. April 22, 2024 Sandra Enkhardt From pv magazine Germany Floating PV installations are still quite rare and generally small in size in Germany. Some megawatt-sized projects are now being developed or built, but the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG) stipulates that only a maximum of 15% of a water surface can be covered with solar modules. Developers must also maintain a minimum distance from the shore,…

Read More

It’s getting easier and easier to access clean, renewable solar energy in the United States. Now, one company is offering consumers a way to get solar energy in their homes that is “as effortless as ordering pizza,” as CleanTechnica described it.  BLUETTI, which launched in Texas last year, is now also available in California, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. The company offers free consultations as well as solar energy systems — complete with solar panels and battery storage — that are customized for each home, handling the paperwork and permit applications,…

Read More