Solar ... In the news

Coastalwatch

Good to see proposed Charging stations coming to fruition, albeit company based. But then, isn't that the way many people will charge their vehicles, at company sites while at work, rather than calling at public charging points on the way home as many a die hard petrol heads seem to imagine. 

I was going to put "And Scotland leads the way once more" until I read the last paragraph.

Aviva moves to put ‘words into actions’ with combined solar and storage carport in Perth

Insurance company Aviva has opened one of the UK’s largest combined solar and energy storage carports at its Perth Office.

The installation includes 3,283 solar PV panels set to generate 812,000kWh. Around 77% of that figure will be used by the offices while the remainder will be stored in the 1.8MWh energy storage system, either for later use or for export to the grid. The storage system is to feature Tesla Powerpack technology, which is set to manage the flow of electricity between the solar modules, office buildings, grid and electric vehicle chargers.

The carport has 342 parking spaces and 50 electric vehicle charging stations. Research by Aviva suggested that 35% of Scottish People think there is a lack of electric infrastructure in Scotland, despite more than two in five petrol and diesel car drivers saying they are more likely to transition to electric vehicles with government or employer support.

Aviva’s Perth site – which houses approximately half of the company’s 2000 strong Scottish workforce – follows the opening of a 608kWp solar carport at its Norwich site in 2019.

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/aviva_moves_to_put_words_into_actions_with_combined_solar_and_storage_carpo

Solarchaser

Good on ya Norwich👍

Martyn1981

DM style headline - "Overhead view of idyllic car park blighted by PV"

Oops! Meant to say that I agree with Coastalwatch that solutions like this will allow for many BEV owners to charge (slowly) at work, if they don't have suitable home charging.

Aviva opens solar power carport in Perth that can power 500 homes

The firm said the initiative, which has had support from the Scottish Government, was one of the UK’s largest combined solar carport and energy storage facilities. It covers 342 car park spaces and provides 50 electric vehicle charging stations.

The facility will be powered by Tesla Powerpack technology and is expected to contribute to a combined annual carbon emission saving of nearly 400 tonnes, equivalent to powering more than 500 homes for one year.

EVandPV

Coastalwatch said:

Good to see proposed Charging stations coming to fruition, albeit company based. But then, isn't that the way many people will charge their vehicles, at company sites while at work, rather than calling at public charging points on the way home as many a die hard petrol heads seem to imagine. 

I was going to put "And Scotland leads the way once more" until I read the last paragraph.

Aviva moves to put ‘words into actions’ with combined solar and storage carport in Perth

Insurance company Aviva has opened one of the UK’s largest combined solar and energy storage carports at its Perth Office.

The installation includes 3,283 solar PV panels set to generate 812,000kWh. Around 77% of that figure will be used by the offices while the remainder will be stored in the 1.8MWh energy storage system, either for later use or for export to the grid. The storage system is to feature Tesla Powerpack technology, which is set to manage the flow of electricity between the solar modules, office buildings, grid and electric vehicle chargers.

The carport has 342 parking spaces and 50 electric vehicle charging stations. Research by Aviva suggested that 35% of Scottish People think there is a lack of electric infrastructure in Scotland, despite more than two in five petrol and diesel car drivers saying they are more likely to transition to electric vehicles with government or employer support.

Aviva’s Perth site – which houses approximately half of the company’s 2000 strong Scottish workforce – follows the opening of a 608kWp solar carport at its Norwich site in 2019.

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/aviva_moves_to_put_words_into_actions_with_combined_solar_and_storage_carpo

Wow, that's way bigger than the one in Dundee ! 

Coastalwatch

I have to confess to being surprised and rather disappointed on learning that mini nuclear and carbon capture featured prominently in the prime ministers announcement, but hadn't spotted that solar and storage had been ignored. It seems not to have gone unnoticed by those closer to industry, hence the article below.

Solar and storage ‘unsupported’ by Johnson’s Green Industrial Revolution plan

Solar and storage technologies were conspicuously absent from Boris Johnson’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.

Released late last night, the Prime Ministers pledges include increased funding for carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and nuclear, as well as reiterating the commitment to grow the offshore wind sector to 40GW by 2030.

However, both solar and storage were absent from Ten Point Plan, with Dr Jonathan Marshall, head of Analysis at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit suggesting they were key ‘gaps’.

“Onshore wind and solar energy remain unsupported, long shots such as modular nuclear power and direct air capture may not pay off, and natural solutions to climate change – planting trees and restoring peat bogs – remain largely overlooked and ignored."

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/solar_and_storage_unsupported_by_johnsons_green_industrial_revolution_plan

NigeWick

Coastalwatch said:

I have to confess to being surprised and rather disappointed on learning that mini nuclear and carbon capture featured prominently in the prime ministers announcement, but hadn't spotted that solar and storage had been ignored. 

Backhanders from the businesses pushed by HMGov Plc?

Martyn1981

Carbon Commentary newsletter extracts:

2, India solar. After a couple of years of slower progress, partly caused by solar producers being worried about getting paid by the Indian electricity distribution companies, a new auction produced record low prices. Almost 6 GW of bids were received for the 1 GW in the tender and the price was set at less than 3 US cents per kwh. (The lowest prices in the world are now below 2 US cents). A continued fall in solar tariffs in India is one of the single most important drivers of the world energy transition because a large fraction of incremental world electricity use is likely to occur in the country. Cheap PV increases the incentive to move away from coal.

9, Perovskites. If this innovation works it is of huge significance. A group of researchers at Stanford University has developed a new method for making perovskite solar cells. They claim to be able to reduce costs to about 10% of current levels for standard panels. Collection efficiency is less than a good silicon unit but this scarcely matters if the costs turn out to be as low as predicted. However the most important advance lies in the possible improvement in durability. Most early perovskite cells suffer from rapid degradation and are particularly affected by any ingress of water. The technique pioneered by Stanford seems to potentially offer major advantages over other perovskites. (Thanks to Gage Williams).

Solarchaser

I thought the great thing about perovskite was the much higher efficiency than silicone??

michaels

Solarchaser said:

I thought the great thing about perovskite was the much higher efficiency than silicone??

Wasn't that just for combined perovskite/silicon sandwiches?

Martyn1981

Solarchaser said:

I thought the great thing about perovskite was the much higher efficiency than silicone??

It's efficiency is a bit behind silicon, but has come up like a rocket and done it all in the last decade. The benefit is that it's very, very cheap, and could be printed onto flexible products, curves etc. So even if it doesn't catch or exceed silicon, it will offer far cheaper PV. It can also be designed to focus on different light spectrums, so layered Perovskite could raise efficiency.

The very high efficiency panels will be Perovskite and Silicon, probably getting into the mid, even high 30% region. And the beauty here will be higher efficiency but not higher cost - that's because despite layering being a more expensive process, the cheapness of Perovskite will make up for that, so overall the cost per Wp should remain at silicon levels, for example (with made up numbers):
350Wp silicon panel £175 = 50p/Wp
500Wp Perovskite/Silicon panel £250 = 50p/Wp
So there is no cost penalty in going with the more efficient panels, and in the case of PV farms, they will be able to install more MWp for the same land, same frames, same construction cost, labour etc. The only thing that will increase in cost is the panels, so their overall CAPEX will be less (proportionally less, as the increase in total cost will be more than matched by the increase in generation), and mean cheaper overall generation costs.

Edit - Should have mentioned domestic installs. If efficiencies get into the 30's, then homes where ~4kWp was normal in the past at about 15% efficiency, would now be able to install more than twice as much, so my home would have the potential of 12kWp+. Obviously subject to DNO permissions etc.
This will reduce the overall cost of the generation, and open up the domestic PV market to smaller rooves, off south, shaded, further north, etc etc.. 
Early UK domestic assumptions were around 5m properties at 4kWp in the SE to SW range of rooves, but as efficiency has risen, and E/W installs have demonstrated benefits, perhaps the future figure might be 10m installs at 6kWp+. That's a (potential) capacity rising from 20GW to 60GW (roughly equal to the annual generation of HPC + SZC). Nice.
And then there's commercial rooves ..........