Berlin could help defuse land conflicts if it ‘privileges’ floating plants on opencast mine water bodies via dedicated tenders, says review by Fraunhofer ISE.
EU production line of 5 to 10GW a year is possible and would help deliver the required 117GW-to-630GW capacity push, experts say as separate study touts PV’s job benefits for coal regions.
Switching to full renewables by 2050 in line with climate goals would see global solar create 22 million of a total 35 million new energy sector jobs, with batteries employing 4.5 million.
In arid regions soiling can greatly impact the energy yield of PV systems and drive up their O&M costs. Benjamin Figgis, Amir Abdallah, Maulid Kivambe, Brahim Aissa, Kamran Ali, Cédric Broussillou and Veronica Bermudez of the Qatar Environment & Energy Research Institute and Klemens Ilse of the Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics review the main challenges associated with soiling of PV plants globally, and the most promising techniques for dust prevention and cleaning in dry climates, drawing on research results from six years of PV performance and soiling studies at the QEERI’s Outdoor Test Facility in Doha
Claims that net-zero goal and 2.5TW of PV are ‘technically and economically feasible’ by mid-century come as reports suggest Beijing could axe large-scale PV subsidies next year.
Costs have tumbled to such an extent that new-build LCOEs are catching up with marginal costs of non-renewables, says firm in update that finds storage is too becoming more competitive.
Carbon Tracker analysis urges Asian state to ditch coal investments after finding solar will fully outcompete fossil fuel by 2025, followed by wind power in 2027.
PV Tech quizzes HIPERION’s promoters over potential strengths but also cost challenges of Insolight’s planar optical micro-tracking process, tested outdoors and supported with €10.6m EU grant.
Fitch Solutions: Utility-scale growth favoured by competitive bidding will see provinces including Gansu and Xinjiang regain top role they lost to coastal areas in 2016-2018 period.
C&I systems can already hit grid parity without need for government money across all major urban centres but profitability is mixed on a region-by-region basis, researchers say.
