Installations

Engie Green has joined forces with the associations France Nature Environnement and Apicluster to install beehives at several of its solar PV parks in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d´Azur region, in southern France.

Spanish PV project developer Gransolar is planning to build a large-scale green hydrogen production plant in the Port of Almería, in southern Spain.

A report from Fraunhofer ISE reveals that the share of PV systems with southern orientation has decreased from 61% in 2000 to 42% in 2019. It also highlights that solar rooftop installations with a tilted angle lower than 20 degrees have increased from just 5% in 2000 to 24% in 2019.

A prototype of a cement-based battery has been developed in Sweden for potential applications in buildings. Its creators claim it could become a solution to store electricity from rooftop PV and they do not exclude that it could also be used for the storage of large-scale renewables.

According to the International Energy Agency, most of the global reductions in CO2 emissions between now and 2030 would come from technologies available today. In a recent report, the agency sets what it described as a “cost-effective and economically productive” pathway resulting in an energy economy “dominated by renewables like solar and wind.”

Longi is also planning to raise US$1.09 billion to support its plans to increase PV cell capacity, and Talesun has secured a solar module supply agreement from the United States.

The new manufacturing facility will be operated by the newly created unit PV Hardware Middle East. It will produce trackers, mounting structures, and cleaning robots for the Saudi solar market.

A Greek consortium is also planning to invest €8 billion in the domestic production of hydrogen and the French city of Dijon is launching a €100 million euro green hydrogen project to reduce the CO2 emissions of the territory’s public transport starting in 2023.

In an interview with pv magazine, Indra Overland, the head of the Center for Energy Research at the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs, explains how long-distance electricity and hydrogen transport differs from that of fossil fuels. He says strong Europe-North Africa connections could prove the viability of cables to connect continents, and notes that integration between countries and regions will increase.

An international consortium led by Omani oil company OQ is planning a 25 GW wind-solar complex to produce green hydrogen in the central region of the Middle Eastern country. The clean fuel could be consumed on-site, used to produce green ammonia, or exported to other markets.