Netherlands

Also on the rise: An American at Intersolar. Why a long-term maintenance plan is essential. Solar that works in the shade. Scout Clean Energy buys nearly 400 MW of First Solar modules. Pine Gate purchases 2.4 GWh of EnerVenue batteries. And more.

Solar panels abound, racking and battery choices expand, and robots make a move – Intersolar 2022 and ESS Europe. But first, how to get there.

Also starting up: Dutch two-seat solar EV for ride sharing, and French company Supersola releases a plug-and-play solar module.

Developers say the design approach can prevent soil deterioration and still offer the same yield as south-oriented PV plants.

Also starting up: Space Force awards $50k to flesh out an idea for a solar-thermal spacecraft, and Lightyear finds a manufacturer for its solar EV.

Yotta Energy just won seed funding to install batteries under solar modules — in an architecture analogous to microinverters and optimizers.

Despite the pandemic, residential solar growth continues. Commercial solar, always the problem child, is having trouble coping with the virus.

SolarEdge was able to keep its streak of profitable quarters going — in what was expected to be a hard-hit quarter for solar. The company sees “signs of recovery in the U.S.”

Despite strong revenue growth in the U.S., the racking company is abandoning its U.S. manufacturing (and rhetoric) to “create a globally diversified supply chain.” Quick Mount was acquired by Netherlands-based Esdec last year in a roll-up of U.S. racking companies.

The EU-funded Nextbase project aims to manufacture heterojunction, interdigitated back-contact solar modules for less than €0.275/W. Solar panels featuring the Nextbase cell tech are expected to have a conversion efficiency of 23.2%, according to the European Commission.