The French authorities have allocated 89.8 MW of solar capacity in the country’s latest procurement exercise for commercial and industrial PV systems.

French developer TSE has commissioned its first agrivoltaic pilot project in northeastern France. The 2.4 MW installation spans 3 hectares and is installed on arable land devoted to the cultivation of soya, wheat, rye, barley, and rapeseed.

In June 2020, German developer BayWa r.e. inaugurated its largest agrivoltaic power plant in the Netherlands, with a capacity of 2.7 MW. pv magazine France looks at the economic model.

According to the latest figures from France’s Ministry of Ecological Transition, 1,098 MW of solar was connected to the grid in the first half of this year, from 1,534 MW in the same period a year earlier.

The 25-meter-wide Airbus solar drone, which is remotely controlled by satellite, is entirely covered with PV modules.

The Swiss Federal Council has amended the National Roads Ordinance to allow the country to generate renewable energy on free surfaces along major thoroughfares, such as noise barriers and rest areas.

The new measures are expected to accelerate solar deployment across the country.

A group of 35 French agricultural entrepreneurs decided to change their agricultural practices to adapt to the low quality of their groundwater and chose agrivoltaics as a way to compensate for crop yield losses.

France’s Q Energy has developed a new way to combine solar generation and the cultivation of hops, which can grow up to 8 meters in height. The agrivoltaic system consists of two mounting units with 52 bifacial PV modules.

French researchers have developed PV modules with an area of 11.6 square centimeters for indoor applications. They said the achieved efficiency level marks a world record for a flexible perovskite device larger than 10 square centimeters.