Markets

SolarPower Europe has developed an agrisolar digital map showcasing more than 200 projects across 10 European countries, with a total capacity exceeding 15 GW.

Intensified trade measures against China via higher tariffs on imported solar and battery cells are a significant policy step, but the impact is clouded by global manufacturing shifts, price decreases and looming US Department of Commerce trade complaints.

Spanish consultancy AleaSoft Energy Forecasting says France, Germany, Spain and Portugal all broke records for daily PV energy production in the second week of May, as prices in all major European electricity markets, except for the French market, continued to increase.

The first day of the RE-Source Southeast Conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, this week underscored European and regional interest in renewable-energy projects based on corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs). Negative or very low electricity prices in European electricity markets affect the appetite for such projects, but the solution for investors and policymakers is to approach the issue systematically.

The Bangladeshi government has issued a call for consultants to conduct a feasibility study, initial environmental examination, and environmental and social impact assessment for a 100 MW solar plant. The consultants will also be expected to survey the transmission line route for connection to the nearest grid substation.

With solar module oversupply triggering a price freefall in 2023 and no recovery in sight, market consolidation, inventory pile-up, technology shifts, and challenges to reshoring PV manufacturing are set to affect all levels of the solar supply chain.

The new government coalition in the Netherlands says the nation’s current net-metering scheme will be maintained until the end of 2026. The previous Parliament had rejected a proposal to cancel the scheme by the end of 2025.

Researchers at the German research institute have found that indirect gravure printing for metallization of silicon heterojunction solar cells reduces silver consumption and cycle times to below 0.5 seconds per cell, while still enabling conversion efficiencies of up to 20.7%.

Australian energy giant Origin Energy has revealed plans to build what could be the biggest battery energy storage system (BESS) in the state of Queensland, as it continues the expansion of its renewable energy generation and storage portfolio.

Zhongchu Guoneng Technology Co., Ltd. (ZCGN) has switched on the world’s largest compressed air energy storage project in China. The $207.8 million energy storage power station has a capacity of 300 MW/1,800 MWh and uses an underground salt cave.