Solar Irrigation for Sand Control in China Desert

 On June 2, the Tarim Oilfield Branch of PetroChina announced that Tarim Oilfield had officially built 98 photovoltaic power stations in the hinterland of the Taklimakan Desert, realizing green irrigation on desert roads and completely saying goodbye to the history of diesel engine power generation irrigating vegetation on both sides of desert roads.

Solar Irrigation System in Taklimakan Desert

Tarim Oilfield said that since January this year, Tarim Oilfield has further transformed the water wells that used to serve irrigation on the Taklimakan Desert Highway, and replaced the remaining 86 diesel-powered water source wells with solar power generation (in 2010, Tarim Oilfield built 12 pilot wells of solar irrigation demonstration station), after several months of hard work by workers, 86 diesel generator water source wells were converted into photovoltaic power generation. So far, more than 100 diesel generator water source wells on the desert road in Tarim Oilfield have achieved solar power generation.

It is understood that the Taklimakan Desert Highway was built in 1995, with a total length of 566 kilometers. It is the longest graded highway running through the mobile desert in the world. In 2006, Tarim Oilfield built a 436-kilometer-long ecological shelterbelt project along the highway in order to resist sandstorms. The 109 wells were built for watering day and night, and the vegetation was deeply rooted in the desert. The ecological transformation of “advancing into the sand and retreating”.

According to estimates, more than 400 kilometers of nearly 50,000 mu of ecological forests can absorb about 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year, and the negative carbon part can neutralize the carbon emissions of passing vehicles. Photovoltaic power stations reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 3,410 tons per year compared with diesel power generation.

Top 10 solar energy producers in the world

Solar photovoltaic systems are fast becoming an inexpensive, low-carbon technology for harnessing the sun's renewable energy. This article lists the top ten solar energy producing countries in the world in detail.

1st: Germany, 38,250 MW Solar Energy

Germany's 1.5 million photovoltaic installations provide 40 gigawatts of power generation capacity. Since solar power can only provide 940 equivalent full-load hours of electricity per year, high capacity in Germany currently accounts for 7.5% of national electricity consumption, while nuclear power generation accounts for 14%. But solar power has particular advantages over nuclear power, not requiring long-distance transmission to serve local markets.

2nd: China, 28,330 MW Solar Power

China is the world's largest photovoltaic and solar thermal market. China has long been the world's leading solar PV installer. In 2015, China became the world's largest producer of photovoltaic power, surpassing Germany. By the end of 2016, PV capacity had increased to more than 77.4 GW. Solar hot water heating has also expanded significantly, with a total installed capacity of 290 GW.

3rd: Japan, 23,409 MW Solar Power

Solar PV's share of Japan's electricity generation rose from just 2.7% in 2015 to 4.3% in 2016, according to Forbes. In the second half of 2016, solar's contribution to Japan's energy mix soared, accounting for more than 5% of all electricity generation. In 2016, all renewable energy accounted for 14.2% of total electricity generation.

4th Italy, 18,662 MW Solar Power

The Montalto di Castro photovoltaic power station is the largest photovoltaic power station in Italy. In recent years, Italy's solar power generation has grown rapidly, making it one of the world's largest producers of solar energy. In 2013, solar power accounted for 7% of Italy's electricity generation, and the proportion is expected to double by 2030.

5th United States: 18,317 MW Solar Energy

The U.S. solar market nearly doubled its annual performance in 2016, deploying 14,626 MW of solar PV capacity, a 95% increase from the 7,493 MW deployed in 2015. GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) released this data forecast ahead of the release of the U.S. Solar Market Insights report.

6th France, 5,678 MW Solar Power

By 2023, France's solar power capacity will continue to expand, reaching 18-20 GW. By the end of 2015, after adding 879 megawatts of capacity to the distribution network, the cumulative photovoltaic power generation capacity reached 6,549 megawatts. As of 2016, the largest project completed is the 300 MW Kistas Solar Park.

7th Spain, 5,376 MW Solar Engery

The Spanish solar market accounts for about 5% of the global PV market. Growth in the Spanish market has slowed in recent years. This slowdown can be explained by the end of all solar subsidies in 2012. In 2020, Spain's solar power capacity is 8,367 MW. With more than 5 gigawatts of capacity already installed, Spain only needs to add 400 megawatts of solar capacity per year to reach the target.

8th Australia, 4,130 MW Solar Power

As of January 2017, Australia had installed more than 5,700 MW of photovoltaic solar power, of which 763 MW had been installed in the past 12 months. From 2014 to 2015, photovoltaic power generation accounted for 2.4% of the national electric energy. PV installed capacity in Australia increased tenfold between 2009 and 2011, and tripled between 2011 and 2016.

9th Belgium, 3,156 MW Solar Power

Belgium is one of the largest solar generators in the world. In 2013, solar power in Belgium accounted for 7% of total electricity and is expected to double by 2030. As of April 2016, Belgium had the fifth largest installed solar PV capacity in the world. From 2009 to 2013, PV nameplate capacity deployment surged, increasing nearly 15-fold.

10th South Korea, 2,398 MW Solar Engery

Recently, the South Korean government launched a plan to invest 3.7 trillion won to develop renewable energy industries such as solar, wind power and eco-friendly power plants by 2020. According to the plan, the new renewable energy power plant will produce 13 million kilowatts of electricity per year, equivalent to the power output of 26 coal-fired power plants across the country.

U.S. Push for Solar Panels Manufacturing Dometically

White House officials held discussions with some solar power companies on Tuesday to push the Biden administration's plan to wean itself off imports for domestic clean energy projects and strengthen U.S. manufacturing of solar panels.

Bloomberg reported on June 14, citing a number of people familiar with the matter, that more than 20 industry representatives attended the meeting, which lasted about an hour and aimed to clarify Biden's plan to invoke the "Defense Production Act" to promote domestic manufacturing of solar panels.

White House officials, including White House deputy national climate adviser Ali Zaidi, who hosted the meeting, reportedly said the meeting was the start of a push for more solar panels to be made in the United States. The Defense Production Act is said to be just one of the policy options the Biden administration is seeking to expand the domestic solar supply chain.

The report pointed out that the meeting did not relieve manufacturers who questioned the lack of funds of Biden's plan. Prior to this, the Biden administration announced on June 6 that it would grant a 24-month import tariff exemption for solar modules purchased from the four Southeast Asian countries.

Samantha Sloan, vice president of global policy at U.S. PV leader First Solar, said the meeting "only shows that there is a worrying disconnect between the reality of solar manufacturing and the government's understanding of key issues."

Representatives from companies including Jinko Solar, Hanwha Q Cells and Auxin Solar attended the meeting, Bloomberg reported, citing two sources.

Tesla Solar Panels Can Be Mounted Directly on the Roofs

 In addition to the automobile business, the household energy business is also the focus of Tesla, which is formed with the solar roof as the core. In order to bring renewable energy into our homes, we may have to replace our roofs, but not everyone can or wants to remove their roofs for solar power. How to do? Tesla showed off new solar panels made by Panasonic that can be installed directly on existing roofs.

We can also buy solar panels in the secondary market, and Tesla's products are more neat and beautiful, and less intrusive. The solar panel has a low profile design with an integrated front skirt and no conspicuous mounting hardware for a clean and simple look. At first glance, it is obvious that the roof has solar panels installed, but for those used to traditional designs, solar panels will not be too garish.

The new panels are produced at the "Gigafactory 2" factory in Buffalo, which is jointly built by Tesla and Panasonic. Tesla said in an interview that new Panasonic solar panel modules will go into production this summer, when all new residential projects will use them.

What Characteristics Do Glass Sheets Used in PV Modules Have?

The panel glass sheets used in photovoltaic cell modules is tempered glass with low iron content, ultra-white glossy surface or suede surface. Glossy glass is also called float glass, and suede glass is also called rolled glass. The thickness of common panel glass is generally 3.2mm and 4mm, and the thickness of building material type solar photovoltaic modules is 5-10mm. Regardless of thickness, the light transmittance is required to be above 90%, and the wavelength range of spectral response is 320-1100nm. Infrared light has high reflectivity.

Low iron means that the iron content of this glass is lower than that of ordinary glass, and the iron content (iron trioxide) is less than or equal to 150×l0-6, thereby increasing the light transmittance of the glass. Ultra-white means that because this glass has a lower iron content than ordinary glass, this glass is whiter than ordinary glass from the edge of the glass, and ordinary glass is greenish from the edge.

Suede means that in order to reduce the reflection of sunlight, the surface of the glass is subjected to anti-reflection treatment by physical and chemical methods, so that the surface of the glass becomes fluffy, thereby increasing the incidence of light. Some manufacturers also use sol-gel nanomaterials and precision coating technologies (such as magnetron sputtering, double-sided immersion, etc.) to coat a film containing nanomaterials on the glass surface. Increasing the light transmittance of the panel glass by more than 2% can also significantly reduce light reflection, and also has a self-cleaning function, which can reduce the pollution of the surface of the solar panel by rain and dust, keep it clean, reduce light decay, and improve power generation The rate is 1.5% to 3%.

The purpose of tempering is to increase the strength of the glass, resist the impact of wind, sand and hail, and protect the solar cells for a long time. The tempering treatment of panel glass is to heat the glass to about 700 ℃ through a horizontal tempering furnace, and use cold air to cool it quickly and uniformly, so that the surface forms uniform compressive stress, and the interior forms tensile stress, which effectively improves the bending resistance of the glass. and impact resistance. After tempering the panel glass, the strength of the glass can be increased by 4 to 5 times than that of ordinary glass.

US Photovoltaic Industry Bucks the Trend and Declines

The U.S. photovoltaic industry installed 3.9GW of solar panels in the January-March period, the lowest level in two years, according to a report released Tuesday by the Solar Energy Industries Association trade group (SEIA). The installed capacity fell 52% from the fourth quarter of last year, and also showed a 24% year-on-year decline from the first quarter of 2021. Supply chain issues, price hikes, and U.S. tariff policies are the reasons behind the sharp drop in new U.S. PV installations in the first quarter.

By segment, U.S. residential solar installations were strong, the largest quarter in history, with 1.2GW installed, up 30% from the first quarter of 2021 and 5% from the fourth quarter of 2021. Commercial solar installed capacity was 317MW, down 11% year-on-year and 28% month-on-month. The community's installed solar capacity was 197MW, up 16% year-on-year and down 59% month-on-month. PV installations in the U.S. utility market hit its lowest level since the third quarter of 2019 at 2,173MW, down 41% from the first quarter of 2021 and down 64% from the fourth quarter of 2021.

Abigail Ross Harper, CEO of SEIA, said, "The photovoltaic industry is facing multiple challenges that are slowing progress in clean energy in the United States." Solar energy accounted for 50% of the new generation of electricity on the U.S. grid in the first quarter of 2022.

In March, the U.S. Commerce Department decided to investigate whether solar cells and modules assembled in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam violated anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders. As soon as the news came out, U.S. solar developers immediately faced the threat of widespread module shipment cancellations and delays, because once the U.S. Department of Commerce did find evidence of circumvention, retroactive tariffs could reach up to 250%. This has hit PV installations hard.

On Monday, Biden declared an energy emergency in the United States, saying potential power shortages have endangered the country's national security and quality of life. The White House also announced a 24-month tariff exemption for solar modules sourced from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The White House also announced that Biden authorized the use of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to accelerate U.S. domestic production of clean energy technologies.

Despite the White House's move on Monday, SEIA downgraded its full-year outlook for the industry, indicating uncertainty about the stimulus it expects from related policies. SEIA forecasts that the PV industry will add 15.6 GW of capacity this year, down from its previous forecast of nearly 22 GW, a 29% cut. The 2022 installation forecast has been slashed in half over the past nine months.

The US government appears to be more optimistic about PV installations. The White House said U.S. domestic solar power capacity has increased from 7.5GW to 15GW since Biden took office, and is expected to reach 22.5GW by the end of Biden's first term (2024).

U.S. PV stocks rose sharply on Monday. Sunrun rose by more than 15% to a two-month high, SunPower rose by nearly 9% to a new one-and-a-half-month high, Enphase Energy rose by up to 9.7% to a two-month high, JinkoSolar rose by up to 10.7%, and Canadian Solar rose by up to 9.8 %. Array Technologies rose as much as nearly 26%, and the Invesco Solar ETF (TAN) rose more than 4%, rebounding more than 33% from a May low. On Tuesday, related stocks failed to continue the surge in the previous day, with mixed results, and the photovoltaic ETF Invesco Solar ETF (TAN) rose slightly.

Dutch startup unveils solar electric car Lightyear 0

On June 9, local time, the Dutch electric car manufacturer Lightyear released their first electric car, the Lightyear 0, and claimed that thanks to the solar array installed in the car, it can almost eliminate the journey to the charging station.

Lightyear claims its optimized solar panels cover the entire roof and hood, allowing drivers to use it for weeks, if not months, without needing to recharge. According to the automaker's press release, the solar system offers a charging speed of 1.05 kW and a cumulative range of up to 10 km/h.

Lightyear 0 will still provide plug-in charging at different rates. Under the charging power of 22kw, it can support 209 kilometers of battery life in one hour, and under the charging power of 60kw, it can support 507 kilometers of battery life in one hour.