Eastern Europe

The Croatian government’s latest set of energy support measures includes new financing for residential solar, batteries and heat pumps, expected to support up to 15,000 applications, as well as an extension of existing electricity price subsidies for homeowners.

Slovakia’s total solar additions last year fall in line with those seen the prior two years, with cumulative capacity now standing in excess of 1.3 GW.

Newly-implemented rules governing Ukraine’s energy market introduce solar-plus-storage systems as a separate auction category, ease regulatory barriers governing standalone storage projects and establish processes for renewable energy facilities located in Ukraine’s occupied territories.

Albania’s cumulative solar capacity now likely stands between 600 MW and 650 MW, with installations to date led by the utility-scale segment and growing interest from the C&I market.

A new global dataset of 119 energy-sector cyber incidents from 2022–2024 shows EU and BRICS countries, followed by the US, are most affected. Attacks targeted power, oil, gas, and nuclear infrastructure, driven by both financial and political motives, with diverse threat actors involved.

GlobalData says Russia added an estimated 100 MW of solar last year, taking total installed solar to around 3.1 GW. The consultancy is forecasting annual additions of about 200 MW over the next ten years, taking the country’s cumulative solar capacity to 5.3 GW by 2035.

Researchers reviewed 110 studies on cold thermal energy storage in liquid-air energy storage, finding that cold storage performance has a far greater impact on system efficiency than previously assumed. While phase change materials offer high theoretical efficiency gains, simpler packed-bed sensible heat systems are currently the most mature and cost-effective option, with further experimental validation needed to bridge the gap to large-scale deployment.

The EU’s third cross-border solar tender is offering a share of €54.9 million ($63.8 million) to solar-plus-storage projects in selected Bulgarian districts and ground-mounted solar projects in Finland, with funding provided by Luxembourg. The deadline for applications is September 1.

Estonia’s cumulative solar capacity reached around 1,430 MW by the end of last year. Year-on-year installations slowed as the country’s solar market begins to saturate, with future growth expected to be driven by supplementing solar parks with batteries.

Moldova had a record year for solar deployment last year, taking cumulative capacity to 710 MW. There is now just under 1 GW of renewables installed in the country.