From pv magazine Spain

Alexis Issaharoff, the chief renewable energy officer for Jubaili Bros, said that the sustainable solar house is designed to teach children and adults about sustainability and renewable energy.

Issaharoff, a renewable energy expert with more than 16 years of executive experience and a board member of sustainability and environmental foundations, also contributes to the United Nations magazine “UN Today.”

He developed the project to educate children and adults about renewable energy, sustainability, regenerative agriculture, and water conservation through the construction of a LEGO kit.

“How could we get parents and kids to learn about something that would benefit them both? By playing together,” he told pv magazine.

After 11 months of work, Issaharoff brought the Sustainable Solar House to life with 4,100 virtual pieces. He entirely developed the project with LEGO Ideas software.

The house is designed to be self-sufficient, producing its own food, water, and energy, making it a ‘Net Zero Plus' House that generates more energy than it consumes. It achieves this through a rooftop solar array featuring bifacial modules with a tracking system and integrated solar modules on the house's facade (BIPV).
The house incorporates a solar cooker, a rooftop solar thermal system to supply hot water, and micro wind turbines. It uses a heat pump for air conditioning.

The house features a battery system, and its exterior and street lighting operate on solar power. It includes rainwater collection, wastewater recycling, a biodigester, and a recycling center.

The roof demonstrates the cooling mechanisms of the house through its use of solar modules (heat absorption), gardens and farming (heat absorption and utilization), and white paint (heat reflection, reducing heat absorption by the house).

The project also includes an organic solar tree, a solar delivery drone, and a solar robot, all integrated into the design.

The absence of a car in the house is due to the expectation that cars will become self-driven in the next decade. They will be readily available 24/7 on the road, as depicted by the red car in the image. There is also a dedicated lane for self-driven electric school buses and cars equipped with wireless electric chargers on the side. To accommodate alternative transportation, there is also a designated lane for bikes, electric bikes, and electric scooters.

The project has undergone actual wind environment studies by environmental design and engineering firm Neapoli.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) were also used to analyze indoor and outdoor conditions in the LEGO house, optimizing ventilation and natural cooling for the summer season.

If ‘The Sustainable Solar House' receives 10,000 votes, LEGO will evaluate the possibility of producing it as a real kit. There are more 100 days remaining for voting.

From pv magazine Spain

Spanish company nTeaser has launched a new online platform to help investors to buy wind and solar projects from renewable energy developers in Spain.

“We have already published co-developments for almost 2 GW of projects in Spain, which has generated a lot of interest from investors and has received a few good offers, and we will soon publish another 100 MW storage project from another developer, also in co-development,” nTeaser's founder, Carmen Izquierdo, told pv magazine. “We are in talks with other developers to upload their smaller, but more advanced battery projects.”

The solar projects to be included in the platform have capacities ranging from 5 MW to 10 MW. Izquierdo said that a developer with substantial experience in wind power is currently seeking a financial partner for the 2 GW storage project.

“We believe that the batteries are going to hit hard. Although there is still little visibility, the big ones are already positioning themselves well,” said Izquierdo.

From pv magazine Spain

“We are going to have a real problem, market congestion,” said Franc Comino, general director of Sonnen Ibérica. “There is a lot to do at the regulatory level for batteries to penetrate the market, since the market is going to need them. Regulation must be opened to empower the end customer so that they can participate in the market.”

“We are in a scenario that 10 years ago we could not even dream of, we are building a new reality,” he said.

From pv magazine Spain

Spanish startup Soleolico has designed a hybrid wind-PV system for power generation.

“After more than 10 years of research, an investment of more than €5 million ($5.2 million) and the evolution of more than 30 prototypes, Soleolico is the first wind turbine in the world that integrates photovoltaic panels in its blades,” the company said in a statement.  “The blades are oriented to the wind using a patented magnetic system that calibrates the wind orientation of each blade to extract maximum energy.”

The product is available for distributed generation, but also for transmission lines and large-scale applications, said the manufacturer.

It features solar panels from Spanish company Izpitek, a unit of Tecnalia, which manufactures photovoltaic modules that can be fully integrated into lightweight components.

The system is also coated with Pure.Tech, which Soleolico claims is a revolutionary material that eliminates greenhouse gases, as it absorbs CO2.

Soleolico said its new solution is robust, scalable and is available “at a low price.”

Seville-based engineering company Alener, Spanish metal structure make Imedexsa, and Talleres JM López, a producer of pipes and equipment for the petrochemical industry, have supported Soleolico in the design and construction of the system.

MW Energy, a joint venture between renewables developer Masdar and W Solar Investment, has signed an agreement with Tajikistan’s Ministry of Energy and Water Resources (MOEWR) to develop at least 500 MW of clean energy capacity in Tajikistan.

The project pipeline includes some floating solar capacity and is part of a public-private partnership (PPP), Masdar said in a statement, without providing further details.

“By 2030, the installed capacity of generating stations using solar and wind energy should be 700 MW,” said Tajikistani Minister of Energy and Water Resources Daler Jum’a. “Today, 450 MW of this is being developed by a feasibility study with the participation of international consulting companies with the financial support of international financial institutions. This is a relatively new direction for us, but nevertheless concrete work has already begun.”

Masdar has worked on a number of projects in Central Asia. It has achieved financial closure on three solar projects in Uzbekistan, located in Jizzakh, Samarkand, and Sherabad, with a total capacity of approximately 900 MW.

In addition, Masdar's 100 MW Nur Navoi Solar Power Project in Uzbekistan has been operational since 2021, and it has plans for the 250 MW Nur Bukhara Solar Power Project with a 63 MW/126MWh battery energy storage system.

From pv magazine LatAm

From pv magazine Spain

Spanish energy provider Iberdrola has finished building what it claims is the first hybrid wind-solar plant in Spain, and is currently carrying out work on the commissioning process.

The solar plant consists of a 74 MW solar facility spreas across the municipalities of Revilla Vallejera, Villamedianilla, and Vallejer, near Burgos, in the central Spanish province of Castilla y León. The wind plant has a capacity of 69 MW, is located near the municipalities of Ballestas and Casetona, and has been operating for several years.

Iberdrola invested €40 million ($42.0 million) in the solar facility.

“Iberdrola will bet on this technology in the coming years in Spain, with which it aims to improve its existing renewable energy assets,” it said in a statement.

The energy supplier is currently developing and building several hybrid wind-solar projects in Spain and throughout the world. Last year, it commissioned two hybrid plants in Australia and Brazil. It also secured approval to build a 50 MW project in Salamanca, northern Spain.

In addition to projects planned by Iberdrola, the Spanish official journal regularly reports on a steady stream of hybrid solar-wind projects in the pipeline.

From pv magazine Spain

Mondragon Assembly has revealed that it has won a new dispute with an undisclosed Chinese manufacturer over its patent for continuous string technology.

The Spanish PV production equipment supplier said the patented continuous string process makes cuts between two cells to create individual strings from single infinite strings.

“The patent has been valid since 2013,” a company spokesperson told pv magazine.

Mondragon Assembly said the process increases machine productivity by around 10%, allowing the ribbon/wire to be kept under control at all times. It claimed that the process also increases the quality of the alignment, while reducing the number of defective strings.

Several years ago, Mondragon Assembly faced another legal dispute with a solar machinery manufacturer, but the Chinese court ruled in the Spanish company's favor.

“Mondragon Assembly has taken legal action against two Chinese competitors who infringed said patent,” the company said. “In both cases, the Chinese courts have ruled in favor of Mondragon Assembly and the offenders have been sentenced to cease the manufacture and sale of continuous string machines and to pay compensation to it.”

Concerns about LNG supply shortages did not end up affecting electricity and gas futures prices as much as anticipated. However, most European renewable PPA prices rose in August, and the EURO Composite – Swiss consultancy Pexapark's global index, which averages PPA prices across different technologies and geographies – rose by an average of 1. 4% to end the month at €56.10 ($59.80)/MWh.

Italian PPA prices rose the most, at 12.8%, while French prices experienced the biggest decline, with a month-on-month drop of 5.7%, as French electricity futures fell due to an increase in nuclear production in August and confidence in the security of winter electricity supplies.

Only nine new PPAs for 193 MW were announced in August, down 83% from July, and significantly below any other month in 2023 thus far. The numerical average of deals has been more than 22 per month since the beginning of 2023.

Between July and August 2023, 1.34 GW of new PPAs were registered, or about 10% less than the nearly 1.49 GW of the same period in 2022.

Denmark accounted for 55% of the activity for the month, as five of the nine deals in August came from newly built photovoltaic assets in the country. Although only around 6% of Danish electricity production comes from photovoltaics – compared to more than 50% from wind – the vast majority of PPAs announced in the country are for solar assets.

The largest deal in August was closed in Sweden, with AstraZeneca's purchase of 200 GWh per year of onshore wind capacity from Statkraft. Another significant deal was Orange's purchase of 30 GWh per year of solar from Engie in Romania, which also represents the fourth PPA registered by Pexapark in the country.

In addition, Pexapark said that the first quarter of this year marked the start of a golden era for PPAs in Europe. During this period, 5.5 GW of new capacity was registered across 68 agreements, up more than 109% from the previous year. There was also a 95% quarter-on-quarter rise in the number of agreements.

In the second quarter, contracted volumes halved to approximately 2.6 GW, but the number of agreements remained similar, with a total of 65 PPA announcements. In July and August, there was another slowdown, which was to be expected for the period, but there were still more notable than in the same period a year earlier.

Pexapark said that one of the main challenges in 2023 has been the increase in the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and the fact that PPA prices have not kept pace with inflation-induced project costs. Concerns about changing legislation in some countries, such as the United Kingdom, could also have a negative impact.

However, Pexapark said that it remains optimistic, pointing to the record 9.5 GW (166 agreements) that have already been registered so far this year.

“Given that third quarter activity has not yet concluded and that the fourth quarter is still ahead – a typically intense quarter, as many deals rush to close before the end of the year – expectations around 2023 appear to be materializing,” the company said in his monthly “PPA Times” report.

The European Parliament has overwhelmingly approved a package of measures to bolster renewable energy development, in line with the European Green Deal and REPowerEU plan. The vote resulted in 470 in favor, 120 against, and 40 abstentions.

The updated directive on renewable energy sources, already agreed upon by MEPs, awaits formal approval by the Council to take effect. The EU aims for renewable energy to constitute 42.5% of final energy consumption by 2030, with Member States striving for 45%.

The legislation also streamlines permitting for new renewable energy facilities, stipulating that national authorities should approve installations in “renewable-friendly zones” within 12 months and not exceed 24 months outside these areas.

In the transport sector, the implementation of renewables aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 14.5% by 2030.

Member states will set an indicative target of at least 5% for innovative renewable energy technologies in newly installed capacity and establish a binding framework for cross-border energy projects.

The UK Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has announced the results of its latest renewable energy auction, originally planned for 2022.

Around 56 solar projects with a total capacity of 1,927.68 MW secured 15-year CfDs at a final price of GBP 47 (€58.64)/MWh. The auction also awarded 1,480.74 MW of onshore wind capacity and 223.6 MW of remote island wind at GBP 52.29/MWh, with a total of 29 wind projects securing contracts. Notably, this marked the first time that solar capacity surpassed wind in a UK auction.

“Thanks to the double-sided micro-crystalline process and silver-copper paste technology, the HJT solar cells can performance exceptionally well even in harsh environments such as high altitude and high ultraviolet rays,” said Huasun.

In March, the China-based heterojunction module manufacturer started making solar panels at its HJT cell factory in Xuancheng, in China's Anhui province. The factory will have an annual capacity of 2.4 GW and will exclusively produce bifacial 182 mm HJT cells, based on a cell tech with a power conversion efficiency of 25.26%. The results have been confirmed by the Institute for Solar Energy Research, in Hamelin, Germany.

London-based Octopus Energy has signed an agreement with Impello, a subsidiary of ShellPetroleum Company Ltd., to purchase Shell Energy's residential business in the United Kingdom and Germany.

The acquisition follows a competitive process conducted by Shell and includes 1.4 million household electricity customers (2.5 million metering points) and 500,000 broadband customers, said Octopus Energy.

The company will grow to nearly 300,000 customers in Germany and 6.5 million customers in the United Kingdom. It did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

Subject to regulatory approvals, the acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023. Shell said the sale is part of plan announced earlier this year to exit its household energy businesses in the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands.

The two companies are also exploring a partnership on EV charging.

Swiss energy supplier Axpo announced it is planning a 9 MW ground-mounted photovoltaic plant in the municipality of Oberiberg for the winter power supply in the region. Alpin Solar Ybrig will be the first solar project in the canton of Schwyz and the third large-scale solar installation to be implemented by Axpo in the alpine region, following on from NalpSolar and the solar plant in the Disentis ski resort. Axpo commissioned its first alpine PV project in September 2022, a 2.2 MW PV system on the Muttsee Dam, at an altitude of almost 2,500 meters above sea level.

Axpo and EWS AG, part of the Axpo Group, expect to start the construction in autumn 2024. “Initial partial commissioning is planned for the end of 2025 and full commissioning in the following years,” says Axpo. The project is being planned for an area of around 9 hectares on existing pastureland in the Roggenegg area. The area concerned should still be usable for alpine farming after the construction of the solar plant, the company says.

Axpo plans to build more than 1.2 GW of solar capacity in Switzerland. The Swiss government aims to reach 2 TWh of alpine PV production and will enable and facilitate the construction of large-scale ground-mounted PV systems in the Swiss Alps, 1,500 meters or higher above sea level.

Trina Solar‘s US unit has revealed that it started operating the 6.5 GW silicon wafer factory in the city of Thai Nguyen, 80 kilometers north of Hanoi, Vietnam. The company announced the new facility last January, after the US Department of Commerce (DoC) determined in December 2022 that solar cell and module imports from Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Thailand were circumventing antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) orders on cell and module imports from China. Trina said that this new capacity would be used to exclusively supply its operations in the US utility, C&I, and residential solar markets.

Trina Solar began producing 210 mm monocrystalline wafers for Vertex Modules in Vietnam last week. “Wafers produced will be primarily used in cell and module production at Trina Solar’s sites in Vietnam and Thailand, including Trina’s supply to the U.S. market,” the company states.

In addition to the new factory’s wafer production capacity of 6.5 GW, it has a cell capacity of 4 GW and a module capacity of 5 GW. The silicon wafer factory includes ingot pulling, machine processing, slicing, and silicon processing.

Last May, Trina Solar announced it signed an agreement with an unspecified state-owned entity of Shifang City, Sichuan province in China, to build a 25 GW monocrystalline ingot factory in the area.

Saudi Arabian energy giant ACWA Power announced the financial close for the 200 MW Kom Ombo project, a utility-scale solar power plant in Egypt. With an overall investment cost of US$182 million, the Kom Ombo plant is expected to be commercially operational in January 2024.

ACWA Power announced a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Government of Egypt in October 2018 to develop, finance, construct and operate the Kom Ombo project. The plant will be located less than 20 kilometres from Africa’s biggest solar park, the 1,465 MW Benban complex, also developed by ACWA Power.

A financial package of US$ 123 million for the project was previously announced in April 2023. The package comprised of loans of up to US$ 35.6 million from the EBRD, US$ 14.4 million from the OPEC Fund, US$ 14.4 million from the AfDB, US$ 34.1 million from the GCF, US$ 14.4 million from Arab Bank and US$ 10 million from the SEFA under the COVID-19 IPP relief programme. The project already has equity bridge loans of US$ 14 million from the EBRD and US$ 45 million from APICORP.

The International Renewable Energy Agency's (IRENA) latest statistics show that Egypt hit 1,724 MW of cumulative installed PV capacity at the end of 2022.

Pexapark has released the Euro Composite index, which averages the prices of PPAs in different technologies and geographies for July. PPA prices rose by 0.8% month on month to €55.30 ($60.70)/MWh.

Poland experienced the largest increase in prices at 7.7%, followed by France, Germany, and the Netherlands. The largest decline in prices was recorded for Sweden, followed by Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Developers announced new PPAs for 1,145 MW of combined capacity in July, up 64% from June – the month with the lowest number of agreements so far this year.

Solar PPAs were by far the largest technology segment in July, with more than 960 MW in 15 deals, followed by 175 MW of onshore wind capacity in six deals.

China will set up a recycling system for ageing wind turbines and solar panels, drawing up new industrial standards and rules to decommission, dismantle, and recycle wind and solar facilities, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and five other state agencies said on Thursday. The state planning agency said that China would have a “basically mature” full-process recycling system for wind turbines and solar panels by the end of the decade.

China’s new energy sector, which covers wind, solar, battery, and other emerging energy technologies, will face a problem of “mass decommissioning of equipment” as industry upgrades accelerate, the state agencies said. The country is set to retire about 250 GW of solar panels and 280 GW of wind turbines by 2040, according to Greenpeace.

Harmony Gold Mining Company has commissioned 30 MW of ground-mounted solar projects in the Free State Province. The plants – Tshepong, Eland, and Nyala – are located in the town of Odendaalsrus, and the power generated will be sold to Harmony Gold Mining under a power purchase agreement (PPA) for a period of 15 years.

African Clean Energy Developments (ACED) was co-sponsor to AIIM / Old Mutual’s IDEAS Fund and was primarily responsible for procurement and PPA negotiations, the technical-commercial interface, and overarching transaction management, including raising debt funding. ACED also oversaw all land and permitting workstreams, and provided construction management.

The Tshepong project is connected directly to Eskom’s Distribution System and wheels energy to Harmony’s point of supply, where Eskom credits them for the energy supplied by the project. The Tshepong project is the first project financed “wheeling” project in South Africa, ACED says.

The Eland and Nyala projects connect directly to Harmony’s electrical system (behind the meter).

Construction of Phase 2 is expected to commence in December 2023 and be completed in FY25, the company says. Once complete, this will add a further 137 MW.

The first 100 MW of Phase 2 will be largely funded using the R1.5 billion green loan that was secured in June 2022, while the remaining 37 MW will be delivered through a power purchase agreement with an undisclosed company.

In 2020, several mining companies operating in South Africa announced their plans to build power plants relying on PV with a combined capacity of 585 MW. These include a 200 MW solar plant under development by gold provider Sibanye-Stillwater, a 75 MW facility planned by Anglo American Platinum, a 40 MW solar park by Goldfields, a 200 MW PV plant by Indian mining company Vedanta, a 30 MW project by Harmony, a 38 MW plant by Orion, and a smaller 3 MW facility by Exxaro.

Levante has developed foldable, portable solar panels in 330 W and 500 W versions. They weigh 9 kg and feature monocrystalline silicon cells with 23.4% conversion efficiency. Each module has its own junction box with MC4 cables.

The manufacturer said on its website that the origami panel is 20% lighter and 10% more compact than conventional panels, and 40% more compact than other folding panels. The Levante solar panel is 100% “Made in Italy,” and its technology is patented.

When unfolded, it measures 180 cm x 165 cm x 2 cm. When folded, the structure is rigid, and the dimensions are 119 cm x 40 cm x 5 cm. The product was developed with two nautical experts behind the Sailing Uma project.

Levante said the origami panels surpass conventional panels in several ways, as they are 20% lighter and 10% more compact. They also outperform other folding panels, with a purported 40% increase in compactness.

The 330 W Origami Solar Panels are ingeniously divided into two sections, and can be interconnected in either series or parallel configurations, delivering varying outputs. When connected in series, they yield a maximum power voltage of 73 V, and a maximum power current of 4.8 A. The open-circuit voltage reaches 84.4 V, with a short-circuit current of 5.1 A.

In parallel connection, the panels achieve a maximum power voltage of 36.5 V, and max power current of 9.7 A. The open-circuit voltage measures 42.2 V, alongside a short circuit current of 10.2 A.

For Kickstarter backers, panel deliveries are scheduled for November, while those who pre-ordered on Indiegogo can anticipate shipments in December. The Kickstarter campaign has garnered support from 77 backers, contributing a total of €85,244 ($93,290).

The 330 W panels are currently available for order on Indiegogo, with a price tag of €1,112, and larger 500 W panels can be obtained for €1,575.

Each set includes the panels and also adjustable telescopic arms for optimal placement, 3-meter MC4 cables, and protective storage bags. The set does not include a solar charge controller or batteries.