Europe

The German authorities reviewed 342 MW of bids and selected 191 MW of projects in the nation’s sixth tender. The final prices ranged between €0.0880 ($0.0959)/kWh and €0.1080/kWh. The final average price was €0.1018/kWh.

China’s Sinopec has switched on the world’s largest solar-to-hydrogen project in Xinjiang, while India has unveiled a new plan to incentivize green hydrogen and electrolyzer production.

Jörg Müller, head of R&D for Qcells, recently spoke to pv magazine at Intersolar 2023 about the South Korea-based solar manufacturer’s tech roadmap, the adoption of TOPCon, and the prospects for making tandem perovskite-silicon modules. He said the first tandem products could hit the market by 2030.

France’s first hybrid project consists of a 5 MW PV plant and a 24 MW wind farm. Real-time communication between the two installations facilitates the injection of electricity into the network.

Germany’s shutdown of nuclear power plants in April did not result in a ramp-up of lignite-fired power plants, despite concerns. Instead, there has been a significant increase in the share of renewables in the electricity mix, and the proportion of coal-generated electricity has fallen by more than 20%.

CPX, a unit of Netherlands-based Esdec Solar, has developed a new mounting system with a long-side clamping system for large modules. The manufacturer claims that the new structure reduces the number of required assembly steps.

Scientists in Spain have developed a tool that optimizes the joint production of wind and solar. It combines data, patterns of solar radiation, and wind speeds over time in specific parts of Europe.

The Portuguese government has raised its 2030 solar target by 11.4 GW. It now hopes to cover 85% of its electricity mix with renewables by the end of the decade.

The Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (Enea) will soon release an online map to identify suitable sites for agrivoltaics. The map, based on landscape indicators, will provide qualitative and quantitative information to facilitate the selection of appropriate locations for the integration of agriculture and solar energy.

Romania’s OMV Petrom has acquired a 710 MW solar project portfolio. It said that all of the PV installations are all close to the ready-to-build stage.