Croatia is preparing to build Eastern Europe’s largest energy storage project. IE Energy has secured €19.8 million ($20.9 million) to develop a 50 MW storage system, potentially extendable to 110 MW by 2024.

In another record year for solar, SolarPower Europe estimates PV in Europe grew by 47% in 2022, rising from 28.1 GW in 2021 to 41.4 GW this year. Germany installed the most with 7.9 GW, followed by Spain at 7.5 GW, and Poland at 4.9 GW. For the first time, the top 10 European solar markets all added at least 1 GW.

Serengeti Energy has started operations at what it claims is Sierra Leone’s first solar independent power project. The 5 MW solar installation is located in Yamandu, Southern Sierra Leone. A second project phase is planned for 2023, bringing its capacity to 25 MW.

Johnson Controls has fabricated an air-source heat pump prototype for locations with temperatures below -29 C. Its York YZV and York HMH7 cold climate heat pumps can already operate in -15 C conditions.

Canadian manufacturer Sparq has unveiled a three-phase microinverter for on-grid and off-grid solar water pumps. It has a peak efficiency of 97.5% and a nominal maximum power point tracking (MPPT) efficiency of 99.8%.

Slovenia’s cumulative PV capacity additions could grow from 466 MW in 2021 to 724 MW by the end of this year. The residential market will account for almost all new capacity, and demand is expected to grow under a net-metering scheme extension until the end of 2023.

South African utility Eskom aims to develop 35 MW/140 MWh of battery storage capacity at its substations in Eastern Cape province. The tender will also accept bids for a 1.5 MW/6 MWh storage system, plus 2.04 MW of solar PV at another substation. Eskom started building the country’s first battery energy storage system (BESS) last week.

DMEGC has revealed plans to build a 20 GW solar cell factory in Sichuan province, while Daqo said it has secured long-term polysilicon supply agreements with Longi and another undisclosed Chinese company.

The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has shown that perovskite-based thin-film PV, transparent PV, and dynamic PV glazing technologies can reduce the energy use of glazed buildings by around 40% across eight regions in the United States.

Bluewater Energy Services has won a grant from the Dutch government to build a flexible floating solar demonstration project in the North Sea. The system uses flexible thin-film PV modules and flexible floaters that move with the waves.