Europe

US scientists have reported efficient plasmonic photocatalysis for the production of hydrogen from hydrogen sulfide, with no external heat source. Egypt, meanwhile, has started commissioning Africa’s first integrated green hydrogen plant.

Researchers led by Germany’s TÜV Rheinland have created a database of technical risks and mitigation measures for PV installations. Their broad overview of quantification methods has shown that further standardization is required.

The European Commission wants to bridge the time until the revised Renewable Energy Directive RED IV has been passed and translated into national law, partly by improving conditions for PV systems up to 50 KW in size.

Sweden’s Vattenfall has revealed plans to build a subsidy-free, large-scale solar plant along the A6 highway in the Netherlands. Construction is expected to begin in 2024, with operations to start in late 2024 or early 2025.

A new EU-funded project aims to show how heat pump technologies could supply various industrial processes with heat in the 90 C to 160 C temperature range. It also looks at how heat can be extracted from renewable sources like solar thermal, as well as ambient heat and industrial waste heat.

RWE plans to build a storage facility to provide grid-balancing services for its power plants in Germany. The batteries will be installed at two RWE power plants in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

French developer VSN Energies Nouvelles was able to almost double the capacity of one of its PV projects due to technological advances such as high-powered panels and new plant design concepts.

The European Union and the United States are seeking a solution for key aspects of “discriminatory” production requirements in the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The EU said it might bring the case to the World Trade Organization if a compromise cannot be reached.

NREL and Berkeley Lab have proposed efficiency and stability best practices for solar water-splitting to make hydrogen, while a team of researchers from Malaysia and Pakistan have revealed their findings on the feasibility of hydrogen-based incineration.

SNCF has agreed to buy 207 GWh of annual electricity supplies under a 25-year power purchase agreement with France’s Reden, which is building four solar plants to provide electricity to the railway operator.