United States

Having bagged large orders in the U.S. and Australia, Indian multinational engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services provider Sterling and Wilson Solar is bidding for tenders in regions which have eased up business lines, Europe among them. Kannan Krishnan, S&W’s chief operations officer for solar in India and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation area, speaks to pv magazine about the impact of Covid-19 on the solar EPC business and the company’s expansion plans.

Scientists led by MIT have suggested chitin, a carbon and nitrogen-rich material made from waste shrimp shells, could produce sustainable electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries and other energy storage technologies.

The PV plant—the EPC provider’s largest in USA—will use bifacial modules and likely be commissioned by November 2021.

Fenice Investment Group will subscribe to compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS) of SILRES Energy Solutions at Rs 10 per CCPS. The investment is expected to complete by May 25.

Many factors are important in ballasting flat roof systems, such as wind speed and roof shape. In the past, however, wind force has unfortunately been underestimated, says wind expert Hans Ruscheweyh. pv magazine addressed this topic in a recent webinar with initiative partner Schletter, and drew several interesting points from the discussion.

Marking its second infrastructure investment in India, KKR will acquire Mumbai-based Shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure’s 169 MWp solar assets in Maharashtra and 148 MWp in Tamil Nadu for a sum of Rs 15.54 billion (approximately US$204 million).

A U.S. research group is now developing new inverters to protect solar installations from cyberattacks. The researchers also aim to create new cybersecurity standards. Professor Alan Mantooth, the group’s research coordinator, said that inverters can be shut down if they are hacked, or contribute to grid instability and result in the overcharging of batteries, while potentially creating problems that we still don’t know how to address.

Although the Wiki-Solar website ranking only provides a snapshot of PV project engineering, procurement and construction contracts outside of China, it is nevertheless a useful indicator of the changing global solar market landscape. Of the top 11 companies, four are based in India, three in Germany, and two in the United States. But last year’s largest contractor, U.S.-based First Solar, might lose its leading position this year, as it has largely discontinued its EPC activities.

US scientists claim to have discovered a membrane which could lead to cheaper large scale flow batteries. The material is an ion-selective, aqueous-compatible polymer with intrinsic microporosity known as AquaPIM and is said to have tunable thickness and high conductivity in aqueous electrolytes.

Based in Gurugram, the factory is spread over 30,000 sq.ft and can produce 240 MWh of high-temperature battery storage solutions annually. These batteries can charge to 80% capacity within two hours and operate in excess of 55ºC, which makes them suitable for hot, humid tropical climates.