A new report from Wood Mackenzie examines how the global shift to higher interest rates to combat inflation is squeezing the energy transition. From pv magazine USA After a period of historically low interest rates from 2009 to 2022, central banks have sharply raised interest rates to fight inflation. The rising cost of capital has “profound implications” for the energy and natural resource industries, Wood Mackenzie said in a recently published report. The transition to a net-zero economy could globally require $75 trillion of investment by 2050, said the research firm. The higher cost of cap ..read more

The latest supply chain report from the Hong Kong-based technical compliance and quality assurance company covers the Southeast Asia region, providing information about 50 manufacturing sites. A new supply chain tracking report by Sinovoltaics, a Hong Kong-based technical compliance and quality assurance services firm, documents the size, location, owner, and current and planned capacity of 50 sites in Southeast Asia. It covers manufacturers of PV modules, cells, wafers, ingots, polysilicon, and metallurgical-grade silicon. The map includes factories in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore ..read more

Enphase Energy says that Octopus Energy's retail customers will be able to integrate solar and battery systems into their energy plans in the UK market, with the introduction of Enphase IQ8 microinverters and the IQ battery 5P platform. US microinverter specialist Enphase Energy has announced a new strategic partnership in the United Kingdom with the country’s largest electricity supplier, Octopus Energy Group. The partnership will see the two parties deploy Enphase’s IQ8 microinverters, which provide up to 384 W to support high-powered solar modules, and IQ Battery 5P, a modular design w ..read more

Vietnamese solar manufacturer VSun’s new facility produces n-type silicon wafers and is expected to be ready for full production by the end of the month. Vietnamese solar manufacturer VSun has commenced production at its new wafer factory located in Mỹ Hào district, Hưng Yên province, in northern Vietnam. The site covers a total area of 132,000 m2 and produces 182.2*182.2mm n-type silicon wafers. It is expected that the facility will be ready for full production by the end of April. According to a statement from VSun, the facility is “using the most advanced equipment and technological process ..read more

EDF says its heat-pump tracker tariff is the United Kingdom’s first, as it will never charge its customers more than the price cap, guaranteeing savings of at least GBP 164 ($202) per year. It says it is also offering a GBP 750 discount on new heat pump installations. The UK unit of EDF has launched a heat-pump tracker tariff in the United Kingdom that it guarantees will never charge customers more than the country’s price cap.  The tariff, which is available to new and existing customers with any heat pump technology, is a UK first, according to EDF. It offers six hours of zero-carb ..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. 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, which makes many floating solar projects difficult or even uneconomical ..read more

As solar module prices continue to fall, pvXchange.com founder Martin Schachinger explains how price pressure could increase in the weeks and months to come. A growing number of PV module manufacturers are threatening to shut down their production facilities in Europe due to the ongoing low-price trend. Some want to give up, while others want to move to the United States, where there are supposedly better market and funding conditions. That's not entirely wrong, because current module prices in Europe do not reflect a healthy, industry-friendly market situation. On the contrary, price levels a ..read more

Norwegian PV developer Scatec ASA has switched on a hybrid solar and battery storage facility in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. A 540 MW solar and 225 MW/1,140 MWh battery storage hybrid project has commenced operations in South Africa. The project, located in the town of Kenhardt in Northern Cape province, has been billed as one of the world’s largest hybrid solar and battery storage facilities in the world. The facility spans 879 hectares and measures 10 km north to south. Construction began in July 2022 and has seen the installation of almost 1 million PV modules. The battery f ..read more

Indian scientists have designed a water-pump drive system that is powered exclusively by photovoltaics. The proposed system configuration reportedly ensures effective use of both the solar modules and the motor. Researchers from India have developed a novel PV-powered open-ended winding induction machine (OWIM) for agriculture water pumping. In an OWIM system, the endpoints for each phase are separated, allowing more flexible motor control and operation. “This configuration facilitates optimum arrangements of solar panels, eliminating the need for large strings and enhancing the performances o ..read more

The company’s new product series is now part of the FusionSolar “One-Fits-All” residential smart PV solution. Huawei FusionSolar has launched a new “Optimizer + Inverter + ESS + Charger + Load + Grid + PVMS” residential smart PV solution that includes core equipment such as a Smart Energy Controller, Smart Module Controller, Smart String Energy Storage System, Smart Charger, EMMA (Energy Management Assistant), SmartGuard, and Smart PVMS. The company says it aims to help users realize the dream of a zero-carbon household. A new benchmark in the residential energy storage industry With its Modul ..read more