Source:https://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/06/21/bangladesh-inaugurates-largest-solar-rooftop/ A Bangladeshi government minister has announced 40% of the nation's electricity will come from renewables by 2041. Junior power minister Nasrul Hamid made the declaration yesterday, at an inauguration ceremony for Bangladesh's largest solar rooftop, a $16 million, 16 MW array in Chittagong. The government in March said it would reformulate its renewables policy after it fell well short of a target to generate 10% of its electricity from clean power by last year. Around 3% of Bangladesh's power came from clean sources at that point. “Renewable energy will be the main source of energy in the future,” the minister said on Sunday, emphasizing the benefits offered by commercial solar rooftops. “The share of renewable energy is increasing in [the] fuel mix,” said Hamid, in part thanks to the rising popularity of net-metered solar arrays like the one installed at an export processing zone owned by Korean clothing and textiles company Youngone Corporation. Export processing zones are areas with less onerous customs and tax charges where manufacturing takes place solely for export. The minister said plans to expand the Chittagong array to 40 MW next year would encourage other businesses to follow suit. The politician stressed, however, that the big land requirements of large scale, ground-mounted solar plants would mean wind, tidal and energy-from-waste facilities would also have big roles to play in reaching the government's 2041 target. Youngone Corporation intends to expand its Chittagong project to around 40 MW of generation capacity, with 4.3 MW due to come online before November and the balance expected next year. The intention is for all 34 factories at the Youngone export processing zone to be powered entirely by the eventual 40 MW of solar capacity. With the rooftop array net-metered, any excess power generated will be exported to the grid. Lee Jang-Keun, South Korean ambassador to Bangladesh, said of the rooftop array: “This is how businesses can get along with nature and reduce the threat of climate change.” Bangladesh has around 746 MW of renewable energy generation capacity and the first stage of the Chittagong array has taken the nation to 40.72 MW of net-metered rooftop solar.

The 4.738MW solar plant ,located in Alashankou, Xinjiang where has unique light resources, is under installation. Taking account of local climatic conditions such as extreme low temperature, high snow pressure and heavy sand, the system adopted carbon steel solar structure to achieve better balance between the overall stability and investment. The carbon steel PV mounting system,  which delivered an economical and reliable solutions for photovoltaic projects on a free surface. Strong steel solar structure allows for lager span between footings that can be cost-effective and robust. In order to ensure smooth process while installation, Antaisolar technical engineers came on site to push ahead with the project and to explore any new solutions for further optimization. The project site is located on the border between China and Kazakhstan with average of 10 hours of light per day, and it’s definitely a proper region for developing solar energy.

Source: https://iea-pvps.org/snapshot-reports/snapshot-2021/ Global solar installation in 2020 Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, preliminary reported market data shows that the global PV market again grew significantly in 2020. At least 139,4 GWdc of PV systems have been installed and commissioned in the world last year. The total cumulative installed capacity for PV at the end of 2020 reached at least 760,4 GWdc. While these data will have to be confirmed in the coming months, some important trends can already be extracted: The Chinese PV market went back to a market level it experienced in 2017, after two years in a row of market slowdown. In 2020, 48,2 GW of PV were installed, compared to 43,4 GW in 2018 and 30,1 GW in 2019. China remains the leader in terms of cumulative capacity with 253,4 GW installed, almost one third of the global PV installed capacity. Outside of China, the global PV market grew from 79,2 GW in 2019, to at least 90 GW in 2020, a 14% increase year on year. The European Union installed close to 19,6 GW and the rest of Europe added around 2,6 GW. The largest European market in 2020 was Germany (4,9 GW), followed by the Netherlands (3,0 GW), Spain (2,8 GW), Poland (2,6 GW), Belgium (1,0 GW) and France (0,9 GW). The US market saw its market increasing to 19,2 GW; a new record, with utility-scale installations accounting for about 73% of the new additions. Vietnam takes the fourth place with an impressive annual installation of 11 GW. Japan ranks fifth, with an estimated 8,2 GW annual installed capacity. Some other key markets contributed significantly to new additions in 2020, such as India (close to 5 GW, but in significant decline compared to last years), Australia (4,1 GW), Korea (4,1 GW), Brazil (3,1 GW), Taiwan (1,7 GW), Mexico (1,5 GW), followed by the Philippines (1,1 GW) and South-Africa (1,0 GW). Preliminary numbers show to Mexico and South Africa could have installed close to 1 GW as well. Among the top 10 countries, there are now six Asia-Pacific countries (Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and Vietnam), two European countries (Germany and the Netherlands) and two countries in the Americas (Brazil and the USA). The level to enter the top 10 global markets in 2020 was around 3,0 GW; a stable level compared to 2019 and twice the level needed in 2018. The top 10 countries represented around 78% of the global annual PV market, a slight increase compared to 2019. However, compared to previous years, the market is still showing a decreasing market concentration trend. Honduras, Australia, Germany, Greece, Chile, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Israel, Belgium, India, China, and Turkey now have enough PV capacity to theoretically produce more than 5% of their annual electricity demand with PV. PV represents around 3,7% of the global electricity demand. The contribution of PV to decarbonizing the energy mix is progressing, with PV saving as much as 875 million tons of CO2eq. However, much remains to be done to fully...

On September 13, Antaisolar has announced it has secured a 400MW solar tracker order from China-based project developer and EPC, JIAYANG and it is the third cooperation between the two parties. Antaisolar said the supply deal is to provide 400MW solar tracker, utilizing TAI-Universal for solar plants located in Ningxia and Gansu China. At the signing ceremony, Jasmine Huang, CEO of Antaisolar, stated that JIAYANG is committed to creating a high-quality ecological environment in a specific area, such as in Northwest China. As we know that china dominated global solar PV installation in the period between 2011 and 2020, and it will reach another milestone with more than 60GW of installation this year. We are delighted to cooperate with JIAYANG to jointly make contribution for carbon neutrality. Antaisolar’s TAI-Universal, the single-axis independent 1P solar tracker, adopted for this 400MW solar tracker plant, which features multi-point drive for ensuring great stability in area where strong sandstorm happens. And it is adaptable for N-S 20°slope for achieving terrain flexibility. As of now, it has been widely applied for numerous solar projects across the global for its superior performance specially under extreme bad weather. “We have partnered with Antaisolar for nearly 200MW solar projects previously. It has proven to be trustable for their high-quality solar racking, in-time service and technical expertise for over 15 years. We are excited to announce this cooperation with Antaisolar, which we believe will definitely help us to expand our utility-scale project pipeline and move towards clean energy transition, ” commented by Mr. LiuHang, JIAYANG’s CEO.

Last year saw a record for solar, in terms of newly deployed capacity. This year, however, growth may be limited by new regulations for project siting. South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) has estimated that around 4.1 GW of new PV systems were grid connected in the country last year. If confirmed by official statistics, this result would compare to 3.8 GW in 2019 and 2.4 GW in 2018 and would make 2020 the most successful year ever recorded by the country. At the end of December, South Korea's cumulative installed PV capacity should have reached around 15.6 GW. Last year “marked the third year after the Korean government's 20%-renewables-by-2030 plan announcement, causing a boom in solar,” Yeji Kim, researcher at Seoul-based Solutions For Our Climate, told pv magazine. “Large scale PV plants–over 1 MW [in scale]–were built in the country for the first time but, unfortunately, we could not find the exact number of installations completed in 2020.” According to her, however, this year's growth may be lower than that of 2020, as several regional administrations are limiting the development of utility scale projects through new regulations for project siting. Citing recent numbers from the Korea Energy Agency (KEA), the analyst said the newly installed PV capacity for the first quarter of this year reached 0.56 GW while, in the same period of 2020, new PV systems had totaled over 1 GW. The Korea Photovoltaic Industry Association (KOPIA) recently said it expects around 3 GW of new PV will be installed in the country this year. “Despite the record growth in South Korea's solar, renewables are still strangled, unable to grow as fast as they should,” Kim added. South Korea currently plans to install 30.8 GW of solar by 2030. This ambitious target is expected to be achieved by building giant solar parks such as a 2.1 GW floating solar project, and a 3 GW ground-mounted PV array that was announced for the Saemangeum area by South Korean president Moon Jae-in in November 2018. More recently, the South Korean government announced a plan to add another 2.1 GW of floating PV by 2030. Furthermore, the MOTIE is planning to allocate around 4 GW of solar capacity this year across two PV tenders, which will likely be launched in April and October. The ministry has also recently announced it wants to help development of unsubsidized solar by allowing domestic electricity consumers to buy power from renewable energy power producers through power purchase agreements (PPAs).

It’s reported that the renewable energy accounts for approximately 20% of its energy mix in Mexico. In 2017, the Mexican Ministry of Energy announced a new energy transition plan on its official website and established the goal of new energy development. It is estimated that new energy will account for 30% by 2021 and 60% by 2050. And it is expected to become the world's seventh largest solar market in 2021. The application of fixed structure solar plants and solar tracker plants are evolving in a rapid way. In this chapter, we are going to share the case study of ANT-cloud solar tracker （single-axis 2P solar tracker）applied for solar plant in Mexico. Project background -Location: Mexico -Wind Speed: 40m/s -Installed: May 2021 -Size of system: 498KW -Array layout: 2×42 Product details - Module orientation: Portrait - Ramming pile embedment (below ground ):1500mm -Tracking range: ±50° - Module brand: Trina solar 495W -Modules per string:14 - String voltage: 1000V -Rail material: Galvanized carbon steel - Post: Galvanized carbon steel - Warranty: 5 years drive and control, 15 years structure Special Features Of The Ant-cloud solar tracker • Adopted synchronous multi-point actuator offering greater stability • Easy-installed actuator, only require one single person • SCADA platform for real time monitoring and offer smart  weather protection mode • Tracking algorithm: astronomical algorithm+ intelligent algorithm • Completed CPP wind tunnel testing for greater stability For more about the utilising of  Ant-cloud solar tracker, please click here to see the 1MW Power Park in Thailand.

Ground-mounted utility scale solar PV power systems continued to clearly dominate the solar space in 2019 – and this won’t change until 2024. The segment had a share of around 64% last year, which is anticipated to hike to 69% in 2021, and then remain flat at around 68% for the coming years. The slight ‘weakness‘ of utility-scale solar in 2019 is in direct relation to the market developments in China and India. Both world leading markets have been strongholds of ground-mounted PV power plants. While the termination of the feed-in tariffs for large-scale power plants in May 2018 in China resulted in immediate market contraction, it also directly had a positive impact on rooftop PV. This development continued in 2019 when solar demand in China fell even steeper. Still, close to 60% of the solar capacity added in China last year were utility-scale power plants. The other leading market that disappointed last year was India, where the bulk of the total installed capacity are ground-mounted power plants. Less PV demand in India meant less utility-scale power plants for the world. On the other hand, the United States, as the world’s No. 2 PV market, saw increasing demand in 2019, mostly driven by a year-end deadline for the 30% ITC, which primarily triggered investments in utility-scale PV capacities. However, deploying large volumes of utility-scale solar is much simpler to deploy than creating a distributed PV rooftop market, which requires a substantial period of time and a lot of effort to educate consumers, while setting up an effective platform with the right financing instruments and technical standards. That’s why emerging markets usually begin their solar chapter with tenders for utility-scale solar and frequently struggle to set up the distributed rooftop segment, even if politicians generally prefer PV on roofs which they consider the natural place for the technology as it avoids any potential conflicts on land use. A good example for such a development is India, which targets 100 GW of solar by 2022, with 40 GW coming from rooftop solar. But of the 35.7 GWAC total of solar power capacity installed by the end of 2019, only 4.4 GWAC were rooftop systems—the vast majority (88%) was utility-scale PV power plants. The Indian Government had approved 1.7 billion USD under its Sustainable Rooftop Implementation for Solar Transfiguration of India (SRISTI) programme in 2018 to accelerate the installation of rooftop solar. Instead, an economic slowdown had pulled that rooftop solar down, resulting in the first decline for the small segment in five years in India. Two relatively recent solar feed-in tariff hot-spots and new GW-scale markets, Vietnam and Ukraine, have been also focusing on utility-scale solar, whereas the European country’s net metering programme has been nurturing a small rooftop market as well. However, even the most advanced solar rooftop market, Australia, with more than 2.3 million solar homes, has recently been leaning towards uti...

Recently, a 1MW solar tracker project located in Rayong, Thailand is under smooth installation, which adopted Antaisolar ANT-cloud solar tracker with precast concrete foundation. Due to the impact of Covid-19, the completion will extended to at the end of August, 2021. About ANT-cloud ANT-cloud the multi-actuator single-axis 2P solar tracker, is the best match with bifacial modules. Designed with patent linear-actuator drive through electric synchronously, this advanced system is free from transmission bar which allows for quick installation, convenient maintenance and low consumption, effectively reducing the labor cost. What are the tracker’s advantages for this projects? As for installation efficiency , Antaisolar Ant-cloud is equipped with easy-installed actuator  which only require one single person to install, the patent torque tube fastener also provide a unique way for 2 times faster installation. Antaisolar’s sales engineers came on site to give any support for the smooth installation. Moreover, with Astronomical Algorithms+Intelligent Algorithms, Antaisolar Ant-cloud solar tracker can iterate the optimized tracking angle for each controller with a 0.5%-3% power generation increased compared with traditional algorithm. Upon completion, intelligent O&M based on self-developed SCADA platform can offer system potential risks forewarning and weather condition warning to ensure the stability of power plant. Ant-cloud solar tracker has proven to be proper solution for large scale solar power plants in many other countries such Mexico, China, Armenia, etc. A few of projects utilized Antaisolar’s tracker in Thailand are under production and will add to local clean energy generation.

Source: https://www.energymagazine.com.au/rooftop-solar-australias-second-largest-generator/ The Australian Energy Council (AEC) has released its Quarterly Solar Report, revealing that rooftop solar is now the second largest generator by capacity in Australia – contributing over 14.7GW in capacity. The AEC’s Quarterly Solar Report shows while coal-fired generation has more capacity, rooftop solar is continuing to expand with 109,000 systems installed in the second quarter of 2021. AEC Chief Executive, Sarah McNamara, said, “While the 2020/21 financial year was difficult for most industries due to the impact of COVID-19, Australia’s rooftop solar PV industry does not appear to have been overly affected, based on this AEC analysis.” Solar uptake by state New South Wales cracked the nation’s top five with two postcodes during the 2021 financial year, with the biggest growth for NSW solar installations landing north west of the Sydney CBD Victorian postcodes 3029 (Hoppers Crossing, Tarneit, Truganina) and 3064 (Donnybrook) have held the top ranks for the past two years; these suburbs had an equivalent number of solar systems installed with capacities of approximately 18.9MW Queensland claimed four spots during 2020 but southwest Brisbane’s 4300 is the only postcode in the top ten in 2021, ranking third with nearly 2,400 systems installed and 18.1MW connected to the grid Western Australia has three postcodes in the top ten, each installed around 1800 systems with a capacity of 12MW in FY21 “All jurisdictions, except the Northern Territory, hit records for the number of solar panels installed compared to the previous financial year,” Ms McNamara said. “During the 2020/21 financial year, around 373,000 solar systems were installed on Australian homes, up from 323,500 during 2019/20. Installed capacity also jumped from 2,500MW to more than 3,000MW.” Ms McNamara said that continued low technology costs, increased working from home arrangements and a shift in household spending to home improvements during the COVID-19 pandemic played a key role in the increase of rooftop solar PV systems.