Eastern Europe

A Latvian developer is building a large-scale PV facility near the Russian border. The plant will provide some of the electricity that the Baltic country will no longer receive from Russia, following the planned desynchronization of the two energy systems in 2025.

Research outfit Rethink Energy says the green hydrogen market could reach $850 billion in value by 2050.

Scientists have used the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) HOMER software to calculate the degradation of solar panels deployed in two rooftop PV systems operating in Germany since 2003. Their calculations focused on the energy productivity of the systems.

Hungarian company SolServices has published a white paper outlining ways to make solar farms more compatible with nature and wildlife, from insects and amphibians to birds, bats, rodents and big game.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Energy has announced that a BGN 240 million ($134 million) rebate scheme is now open for applications from households seeking to install solar water heating systems and rooftop PV arrays, potentially coupled with battery energy storage systems.

The Serbian government is seeking a strategic partner to develop at least five PV plants with a cumulative capacity of 1 GW/1.2 GWh and at least 200 MW/400 MWh of battery energy storage. State power company Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) will own and operate the assets.

Croatian high-performance EV component supplier and car manufacturer Rimac Technology has developed a novel battery architecture that is said to reduce efficiency losses by up to 50% while decreasing the system footprint by up to 40% compared to current state-of-the-art solutions.

Researchers from Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have unveiled a new solar dish plant design, while Plug Power has delivered its first electrolyzer system to Europe.

An international research group used the ultrasonic spray pyrolysis (USP) method to fabricate an antimony trisulfide PV cell with high power conversion efficiency and remarkable average visible transmittance. The cell has an active area of 7.06 mm2.

Bosch has announced plans to build its first heat pump factory in Dobromierz, Poland. The German heating manufacturer will invest €225 million ($247.3 million) in the new facility, which is expected to start operations in early 2026.