The PV manufacturer says there is a risk of electric shock in some of its solar modules due to defective polyamide backsheets. Products delivered between 2010 and 2012 are affected. According to Schüco, they should be uninstalled and disposed of.

Belgium’s federal government has decided to reduce to 6% the VAT on PV systems and heat pumps deployed on buildings erected over the past ten years. This measure was previously applied only to projects developed on buildings that were more than ten years old.

The new measure will come into force on April 1 and will be in place for five years.

The EV revolution has begun. The number of electric vehicles hitting the road is on the verge of exponential growth and technology solutions are on hand to make sure the power system is ready to welcome them in their millions. This is the conclusion of EY and Eurelectric’s collaborative report, ‘Power sector accelerating e-mobility’.

US researchers have investigated how rooftop PV systems may affect air and building temperature in urban environments and, conversely, how the urban heat island (UHI) effect may have a negative impact on PV system performance. Their work considered urban air temperature, urban air pollution, the partial shading of the PV system, soiling, building heating and cooling loads, and outdoor shade.

The country saw around 421 MW of new PV capacity come online in December alone. Its cumulative solar power reached 56.3 GW.

The Commission has proposed today to align the rules for the energy performance of buildings with the European Green Deal and decarbonise the EU's building stock by 2050. This proposal will facilitate the renovation of homes, schools, hospitals, offices and other buildings across Europe to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy bills, improving quality of life for millions of Europeans. Today's revision of the energy performance of buildings directive translates the Commission's Renovation Wave Strategy into concrete legislative action.

Instead of being promoted as “transitional fuel”, gas could be better described as a fuel of last resort, with the caveat that it is not the only one: other technologies are advancing into the balancing role for the power systems, writes Julian Popov.
Julian Popov is a Fellow of the European Climate Foundation, Chairman of the Building Performance Institute Europe, former Minister of Environment and Water of Bulgaria.

The urgency of the challenge to mitigate the climate crisis will force all of us to change how we heat our homes: away from polluting sources like gas to greener and more efficient alternatives. According to a new study released by BEUC (The European Consumer Organisation) today, heat pumps will be the cheapest green heating option for consumers. They will be both more affordable and convenient for consumers than hydrogen, which is the only other non-fossil fuel solution.

A PV power plant not only delivers consistent green energy, but is also a significant financial investment over 25 years. From the financial viewpoint, return on investment and system reliability are both crucial.

This document represents the first intelligent inverters matching database in the global photovoltaic industry.

Researchers in China have analyzed how the marine environment influences the performance of PV modules deployed on ships, and have found that salt particles can be detrimental to their performance as these act as both heating agents and a factor reducing solar irradiance. The temporary cooling effect provided by seawater is not sufficient to offset the impacts of salt spray and ensure increased power yields.

In a white paper, the three Chinese module manufacturers (JinkoSolar, Longi and JA Solar) have reiterated the well-known refrain “bigger is not always better.” Experts from the three companies compared the BoS costs of 182mm-wafer-based modules and 210mm products, and found that the former have a slight advantage in racking, foundation, and land costs.

The devil is in the details, as they say, and when it comes to the next generation of mass-produced, high-efficiency PV cells, silver costs may be devilishly hard to reduce. Making things worse, prices for the precious metal are now heading in the wrong direction.