Spain

An international research group has developed new technology to measure soiling losses in PV installations, by using a simple pocket light. They said the new system offers similar performance to their reference devices.

Spanish scientists have built a cooling system featuring heat exchangers on solar panels and U-shape heat exchangers installed in a borehole at a depth of 15 meters. The researchers claim that this reduces panel temperatures by up to 17%, while improving performance by about 11%.

Also on the rise: California launches incentive program for cities to adopt SolarApp+. Enel launches EV charging network business. And more.

Rystad Energy and BloombergNEF indicate that the impact of the war has sent prices of fossil fuel-tied forms of hydrogen production surging, leaving the gradual but consistent downward price trend of green hydrogen now looking remarkably competitive.

A robot dog developed by Boston Dynamics monitors a solar park by walking between the panel rows following a programmed route. It uses its built-in thermal vision system to generate thermographic reports on the status of the different PV plant components.

Also starting up: Watts Battery joins accelerator program, and an autonomous solar plane with a wingspan larger than a 747 takes flight.

Another busy funding week with solar IPOs on deck and venture capital investments — but no cleantech SPACs in the last few day, at least.

The Spanish solar tracker builder is hoping to debut on the stock markets of Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia this year. American solar tracker company Array Technologies has also filed to go public.

Scientists in Spain have tested various properties of anti-reflective and anti-soiling coatings for PV module glass, aiming to develop a material that offers the best balance of desired material properties at the lowest cost. Over a year of testing, the best coatings were shown to boost module output by around 2%, and the group also made several observations that could influence future developments of coatings for PV module front glass.

Iberdrola’s 500 MW Núñez de Balboa solar park has started commercial operations, following the completion of construction in December.