Renewable energy systems are often the most reliable options for supplying consistent power in conflict and war zones due to the systems’ decentralized nature. Onsite solar power systems — and mini-grids in particular — can save lives in many ways. They power health clinics and hospitals that care for the wounded. They quietly power security perimeter sensors and cameras as well as onsite security lighting. They reduce the need to truck in expensive fuel across dangerous roadways that are subject to attack. They can safely purify available water onsite. And they inform the local populace about relevant news, events and announcements.   Solar Health Clinics We electrified 32 clinics with PV systems in a dozen Afghan provinces. We also provided each clinic with a solar hot-water system. These health clinics typically serve over 200 patients per day. The system powers autoclaves, ventilators, microscopes, electrocardiograms, ultrasounds, infant warmers, and other medical equipment. It also powers lights and computers. ACEP worked in collaboration with the Afghan Ministry of Public Health. The average solar clinic was saving about $500 a month in avoided generator fuel. Often, these clinics were the only sources of electrical power in their communities, so many community members also used them to charge mobile phones. Each clinic was also provided a DC refrigerator for vaccines.   Solar Schools Our program electrified rural schools in Afghanistan. This included installation of two 2-kWp PV systems with inverters on coed schools in Yawkaland District near Band-e Amir National Park in Bamiyan. These systems power lights, computers, projectors and more. They were installed at the request of the USAID Bamiyan Provincial Reconstruction Team in cooperation with the Wildlife Conservation Society. Additional schools were electrified in Nuristan, powering computer laboratories for both adjacent boys’ and girls’ schools. As sometimes is the case with development projects, there can be unintended consequences. We also provided some solar streetlights on the road intersection leading to a school. The Taliban quickly used them to conduct target practice at night from the nearby local police station. We had to quickly remove those particular solar streetlights to avoid unintended casualties.   Solar Streetlights We installed 735 solar streetlights throughout the country. Unlike previous solar streetlights used in Afghanistan that typically only lasted for a few months due to poor design and hardware, the ACEP solar-streetlight systems used 50% more solar and battery storage while providing 1/3 more light than those previously deployed in Afghanistan by previous projects. The earlier lighting typically had failed within months due to using shallow-cycle batteries. The teams had the “lowest bid” procurement instead of the “best offer.” Most of the ACEP solar streetlights lasted about seven or eight years on average before the first battery replacements were required. ACEP also served as a test bed for some early demonstration pilots using Japanese solar streetlights that use lithium-ion ultracapacitors that should provide over 50,000 hours of service before any replacements are needed. These were installed at schools in Bamiyan and Nuristan. The last assessment conducted in 2019 showed that these streetlights were still working well after a decade despite frigid winters (often -20°F).   Solar Water Pumps The program installed over two dozen PV water-pumping systems, with half of these in Nangarhar Province and the rest in Balkh, Bamiyan, Kapisa and Parwan. These pumps are mostly for school and community water-supply systems. These direct-drive PV systems use high-quality AC pumps and should provide 20 or more years of useful service. They were used ostensibly for community water supply, but also often provided badly needed water for small-scale irrigation of farm plots. The systems typically pumped from 25 to 40 cubic meters of water per day. Typically, the most difficult part of the project was the ~10-month-long inefficient customs-clearance process at the port of Karachi in Pakistan.   Solar Home Systems Our team installed over 700 small solar home systems for seven villages in Khost Province. These newer systems represented a significant improvement over past systems installed in Afghanistan. Most of the earlier systems were plagued by problems due to undersized solar panels, inappropriate batteries such as ones for automobiles and undersized wires. The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development had prohibited PV systems in its programs as a result. When I first arrived to work in Afghanistan in 2008, I was consistently told that PV did not work due to poor-quality Chinese PV modules. I finally convinced MRRD to take me out to some of these problem systems. The first thing I noticed is that they were using Japanese Kyocera modules. Their problems were systems-related and had to do with poor module tilt, wrong orientation, car batteries with shallow cycles, and undersized wires with high voltage drops across long wire runs. We introduced quality systems through our new programs and capacity building.   Solar Lanterns Our program provided over 10,000 solar lanterns for different nomadic tribal people in Afghanistan. This included over 1,700 solar lanterns in Badakshan. These small systems are used to assist rural nomads in Afghanistan with basic LED light to replace kerosene lamps and to provide an option for mobile phone charging. ACEP distributed more than 1,600 of these lanterns to villagers in Kirghiz and Wakhi nomadic communities in the Badakshan province’s Wakhan Corridor. We worked in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society. Additional lanterns were provided to the Kuchi people in eastern Afghanistan.   Solar Mini-Grids One of the world’s largest solar mini-grids was installed for Bamiyan in central Afghanistan in 2013. The 1-MWp PV/diesel hybrid mini-grid was installed by Sustainable Energy Services International for the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I served as the commissioning engineer for this system in 2013. The installation began in 2012, with the system beginning operation in late 2013. The total project cost was $14.1 million, including all transmission and distribution lines and capacity building. After construction, the system was turned over to Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat, the national utility company. SESI maintained close contact with the community, soliciting opinions and asking for support in construction and monitoring. All of the local laborers were hired from communities near the power-plant sites. Consumers use prepaid pay-as-you-go cards to purchase kWh. Capacity building centered on educating DABS about how to operate and maintain the plant. In addition to the engineers, clerical and management staff were trained in how to properly manage an electrical distribution system, customer connections and an accurate accounting system.

At this critical moment of photovoltaic technology update and iteration, where will N-type technology, which has extended multiple subdivision routes, lead the industry in the future? This has become the most concerning topic at present.   On September 13, at JinkoSolar’s TOPCon technology forum, the company’s CTO Jin Hao said that TOPCon will remain the mainstream route in the industry in the next three to five years and will account for more than 50% of the market.   Jin Hao said that in terms of conversion efficiency ceiling, TOPCon and HJT or BC are both at 28%; but in terms of cost, TOPCon still has an absolute lead now and in the next three to five years. In terms of the convenience of enterprise implementation, many of HJT's production equipment components rely on imports, which are relatively expensive; BC is not only costly, but also more difficult to implement; among the three, TOPCon's manufacturing feasibility and yield stability and the best value for money.   Jia Rui, director of the New Energy & Optoelectronics Laboratory of the Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, also said that TOPCon will definitely become the mainstream of the industry in the future. He believes that the market space for other technologies may not be as large as TOPCon; at the same time, there is also a lot of room for future technological improvements in TOPCon: such as double-sided TOPCon technology; oxide film technology can also be used in TOPCon; TOPCon can even be integrated with BC technology.   Jin Hao revealed that the current mass production efficiency of Jinko's N-type TOPCon production line is close to 25.8%, and the pilot line has reached 26.5%, mainly single-sided TOPCon products. Next year JinkoSolar plans to launch double-sided TOPCon, which is expected to achieve a mass production efficiency of 26.5%, and gradually reach a mass production efficiency of 27%-27.5% in 2024 and 2025.   It is worth mentioning that the current stack of crystalline silicon cells and perovskite has achieved a conversion efficiency of 33.7%. According to Ge Ziyi, a researcher at the Ningbo Institute of Materials, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the lamination of TOPCon and perovskite is expected to achieve large-scale mass production in three to four years.   Overall, LONGi is currently betting heavily on BC, Jinko is betting heavily on TOPCon, Aixu dominates ABC, and many leading manufacturers are focusing on TOPCon batteries.   Jin Hao said that Jinko also has a pilot line for BC mass production. However, BC batteries have two major problems: one is high cost and difficulty in reducing costs. Compared with TOPCon, the process steps of BC technology are very complex, and it is very difficult to reduce costs in terms of silver paste consumption reduction and silicon wafer thinning. Jin Hao judged that the cost difference between BC and TOPCon in the next two to three years will be more than 1 cent.   The second is that the efficiency improvement is not obvious. BC is a platform product, and its efficiency improvement route is either based on HBC or TOPCon's TBC. Due to too much occlusion on the back of BC, it is difficult to achieve a double-sided ratio of more than 50%. Even among single-sided products, BC is just a branch and does not necessarily become mainstream.   This year’s TOPCon expansion wave has attracted industry attention. Zhao Xiang, a senior analyst at PV Infolink, said that at the end of 2022, the overall TOPCon production capacity in 2023 was expected to be around 300GW, but now it appears to have far exceeded expectations. In the first half of this year, TOPCon module shipments reached approximately 29GW, and full-year shipments are expected to reach 110GW. TOPCon module market share should be around 25% this year. In 2024, the overall production capacity of TOPCon will exceed that of PERC.   Facing the current wave of production expansion in the industry, which is dominated by N-type TOPCon, Jin Hao said that a large amount of production capacity will only promote future technological progress. After the industry popularizes large-capacity layout, every company will hope that the efficiency of TOPCon will be higher. Reducing the cost of electricity will always be the main theme of the photovoltaic industry.   "Since JinkoSolar launched TOPCon last year, JinkoSolar has been leading the industry for about half a year. Topcon can provide higher power. JinkoSolar was the first to launch products with more than 590W power, and was the first to reach 26.5% battery efficiency, with an efficiency increase of 0.5 -0.8, the power is increased to a level of 10-15W." Jin Hao told reporters that this is Jinko's advantage in maintaining technological differentiation.

  The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Mooncake Festival, and China's National Day are approaching. These holidays are a time for friends and family to come together to practice local traditions, enjoy delicious food, and travel. This year is special because both holidays fall around the same time, giving us a long and extended break. The holiday is September 29th to October 6th, but we will actually be out of the office from September 29th to October 3rd. During this time, we will be able to answer questions via live chat and customer service email. Orders can still be placed, please forgive me for the delay in shipping date! If you are planning on ordering and want to get your wheels or accessories as soon as possible, we recommend ordering before the holidays begin. Thank you for your support and cooperation, So Good Company hopes you can share our happiness!    

The demand for rooftop photovoltaic systems and residential batteries by households continues to grow. In order to meet the expectations of homeowners, the German consumer association Verbraucherzentrale NRW is trying to clear up misconceptions about PV installations that can frustrate professional consumers.   It is very important that people can be clearly aware of their personal goals with PV and then go on to discover more about other aspects," says White of s So Good Energy  GmbH. In this way, disappointment can be avoided and solar energy can be used really effectively."   The first misconception is the promise to people that they can become self-sufficient with PV power and storage systems. This is not the case, as PV systems and home storage solutions can only meet a certain percentage of a household's annual electricity supply.   The level of self-sufficiency that can be achieved in a home ranges between 25 and 90 per cent, depending on the level of electricity consumption and whether or not a storage system is installed. h White says that especially in the winter months, there is not nearly enough solar power, so electricity must be purchased from the grid. Full self-sufficiency can only be achieved through additional seasonal storage, such as hydrogen power.   White says: "However, this is technically very complex and makes little economic sense for residential units."   Another misconception is the belief that PV systems are only valuable in combination with batteries. Some homeowners seem to think that connecting solar energy to the grid is not an attractive option from an economic point of view.   "Even without a storage unit, PV systems still have economic value," says White, "and the feasibility of installing batteries for a PV system depends on several factors - mainly the household's consumption profile and the cost of electricity. "   Homeowners should therefore check their level of electricity consumption without installing a storage system. They can compare the higher level of electricity consumption achieved with the installation of a battery storage system with the actual electricity costs incurred.

The German Federal Grid Authority (Bundesnetzagentur) allocated 1,952 MW of installed photovoltaic capacity in the first national utility-scale solar tender of the year, for a total of 245 bids, slightly exceeding the 1,950 MW that the Bundesnetzagentur had planned to allocate. the tender was significantly oversubscribed, receiving a total of 2,869 MW of 347 project proposals.   The agency set a maximum price of €0.0737 ($0.081)/kWh for the auction, with a final average price of €0.0703/kWh, ranging from €0.0529/kWh to €0.0730/kWh.   Southern Bavaria received the largest share of allocated capacity with 845 MW, followed by Brandenburg with 223 MW and Rhineland-Palatinate with 163 MW.   Bundesnetzagentur also revealed that around 851 MW were allocated to projects on arable land and grassland in less developed regions and a further 755 MW were awarded to PV projects along motorways and railways.   "For the first time since June 2022, the number of bids received significantly exceeds the planned capacity," said Bundesnetzagentur chairman Klaus Mller, "We have never received so many bids in a tender before. The issue now is to maintain this high level of bids in order to move forward with the necessary expansion in the long term." So Good Energy will participate in the tender and present the latest design solutions, setting a new benchmark for the new photovoltaic energy industry

Tesla unveiled the third chapter in its series of ambitious plans, outlining the company's vision to transform the United States and the world into a sustainable future powered by clean power generation resources. The report covers a wide range of topics including power generation, energy storage, transportation, investments, mineral utilization, heat pumps, industrial heating electrification, recycling, and the electrification of ships and aircraft.   The document forecasts a future need for 30 TW of mainline wind and solar, and 240 TW of energy storage. The Macroplan cites a number of data sources in its references, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Fraunhofer Institute, the International Energy Association and Princeton University's US Net Zero Emissions Initiative.   The plan envisages a global deployment of 18.3 TW solar, 12.1 GW wind and 2.5 TW electrolysers. The generation resources will feed 112 TWh of automotive batteries, 40 TWh of aircraft and marine batteries, 46.2 TWh of stationary "electrochemical" batteries, 41.4 TWh of thermal batteries, and a massive 642 TWh of hydrogen energy storage.   The report gives a forecast of 3 TW of solar power for the US, which includes 15 million residential rooftops, industrial storage paired with 43 GW of commercial rooftop solar, 1.9 TW of onshore wind and 64 GW of offshore wind.   The technological innovations of So Good Energy dovetail perfectly with this plan statement, and in the near future, So Good Energy will be building these plans together with Tesla

The promotion of electricity for tenants should bring PV power to cities in full. However, the number of PV tenant power projects implemented in Germany has so far been manageable. This is mainly due to the legal requirements in the EEG, which make implementation less attractive and often very time-consuming. According to a representative survey conducted by s So Good, almost two thirds of tenants want to get solar energy from their own roof. Nearly 50% answered "yes" and a further 15% answered "quite yes". Of the 1,000 landlords surveyed, 46% said they were more or less interested in achieving photovoltaic tenant power.   According to the survey results, a third of tenants are even willing to invest in their own photovoltaic systems in apartment buildings. But according to Green Energy Planet, there are simply too many obstacles facing landlords. According to the survey, the main reason for scepticism is the necessary structural measures, at 37.1 per cent. 34.2 per cent of landlords see heavy bureaucracy and 31.1 per cent are also put off by the lack of profitability.

  On 24 May, our company will participate in the world's largest solar energy technology exhibition in Shanghai. We will bring our newly developed products to the exhibition, which are specially designed for a series of problems such as solar power generation, installation and energy storage in homes, so that you can reduce the cost of using solar energy and improve the efficiency of using solar energy. Our booth number is E2.285. We welcome you to visit our booth and see our new products, which will definitely bring you unexpected surprises!