Eastern Europe

Construction of the 100 MW Sputnik solar plant in Russia’s Volgograd oblast has been suspended and possibly canceled, due to Western sanctions imposed in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to sources.  

Hungary’s latest renewables auction involved just 12 successful projects, with contracts for around 864 GWh of power.

An appeal has been launched to source off-grid power generation equipment for Ukraine, with companies and individuals able to donate hardware or cash.

Germany has launched the world’s first operational hydrogen trains and US researchers have presented a novel design for a tubular PEM fuel cell. ABB and Hydrogen Optimized, meanwhile, have expanded their strategic ties and Slovakia has moved forward with a major gas-blending pilot project.

Alpha Solar currently has a solar project pipeline with a capacity of 3 GW in Poland.

Japanese researchers have developed a new way to improve water splitting, while South Korea has completed its largest hydrogen production complex. Scotland and England have announced new hydrogen investments, and Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power have agreed to collaborate on hydrogen projects.

China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) has announced plans to invest €7.34 billion ($7.6 billion) to build a 100 GWh battery plant in Debrecen, Hungary. It will be the company’s second battery cell manufacturing facility in Europe.

The Russia Renewable Energy Development Association (RREDA) said in a new report that investors are still interested in building new renewables projects in the country, despite harsh market conditions related to Western sanctions.

The government of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Serb Republic has adopted a net metering scheme to facilitate the deployment of 50,000 PV rooftop PV systems on residential and commercial buildings.

Scientists in Denmark have modeled the likely impacts of reduced gas supply on the European energy mix up to 2050. Their research finds that if the continent is to achieve the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global average temperature increase to 1.5 C, then gas consumption would need to be heavily reduced, anyway. In less ambitious climate scenarios, however, limited gas supplies could delay the phase-out of coal-fired electricity and lead to longer-term uncertainty over fuel and electricity prices.