2023

The European Commission’s decision to deliver its hotly anticipated Heat Pump Action Plan late next year instead of this month is a “mistake” that will impact the sector and €7 billion ($7.6 billion) worth of investments, the European Heap Pump Association’s (EHPA) secretary general Thomas Nowak says in a statement.

Three-month solar panel permit wait times, rooftop installations and projects under 50 kW not requiring environmental impact assessments, and a raft of other emergency measures aimed at accelerating the European Union’s (EU) renewable energy rollout have been extended until mid-2024 to combat the energy crisis.

Two workers have died in separate accidents at Northvolt’s battery gigafactory in Sweden in recent weeks, with a technician succumbing to burns after an explosion on a production line and a construction worker killed by a falling fork stand. pv magazine has learned that the equipment that caught fire was not a part of the battery manufacturing process.

Longi has announced the achievement of 27.09% efficiency for its heterojunction back contact (HBC) solar cell, a result that has been confirmed by Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research (ISFH).

Belgian PV product distributor Ecostal has acquired Project Zero, a business-to-business specialist in Flanders, Belgium. It did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

A Spanish research team aims to bring concentrating photovoltaics closer to commercial viability by miniaturizing its components. The scientists claim that smaller CPV cells may reduce production costs and enable better CPV module assembly.

The Indian government’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for electrolyzer production has received an overwhelming response, with bids for 2.28 times the capacity that will actually be awarded.

A group of researchers in China has developed an energy management system for modular gravity storage. Compared to single block gravity storage, the modular counterpart offers more flexibility in output power, ease of mass production of related equipment and better flexibility in the selection of weights.

Ark Energy’s 275 MW/2,200 MWh lithium-iron phosphate battery, to be built in the Australian state of New South Wales, has been announced as one of the successful projects in the third tender conducted under the state government’s Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap.

The US House Energy Committee has sent a letter to the Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office (LPO) asking questions about Sunnova’s sales tactics and customer support.