Europe

The Eurasian Development Bank has agreed to provide $210 million over 15 years for Bishkek Solar to build a 300 MW solar plant in Kyrgyzstan. National Electric Grid of Kyrgyzstan will purchase the electricity for a period of 25 years.

The second phase of Ireland’s Small-Scale Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (SRESS) is aimed at local communities and small- and medium-sized enterprises that produce their own electricity.

Perovskite PV devices are set to become the next big thing in solar with market analysts at S&P Global Commodity Insights predicting 1 GW of production by the end of 2024, rising to 6 GW in 2025. Perovskite tandem devices are at the front of the queue for commercialization but their characterization presents technical challenges.

Nikola plans to sell 100 hydrogen fuel-cell trucks for logistic operations in California, Volvo has started developing hydrogen combustion trucks, and Airbus has announced plans to launch a study into hydrogen projects in the US state of Georgia.

BloombergNEF (BNEF) says in a new study of 1,600 planned hydrogen projects that governments will miss their 2030 hydrogen targets. Analyst Adithya Bhashyam tells pv magazine that most of the announced projects to the end of this decade lack the key conditions for success.

Visionpark said its novel solar carport solution is self-weighted and requires no foundation. It can reportedly host all kinds of solar panels and be installed quickly.

The European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) has voiced support for the inclusion of non-price criteria in auctions for solar modules, as laid out in the EU Net Zero Industry Act. The council’s recommendation paper also calls for member states to adopt the act as quickly as possible and highlights concern around cybersecurity and data security in relation to Chinese inverters.

This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Oana Ijdelea, the founder and managing partner of Romanian law firm Ijdelea & Associates. She says there is no objective blockage impeding women from pursuing a career in the renewable sector. There is, however, a vicious circle where women may become reluctant to apply for a position where males appear to be more present, and on the other hand, the lack of female presence in such roles does not encourage other women to step in.

Aiko Solar has won a first battle in the patent litigation case against Maxeon Solar Technologies in a Dutch court. The judge has ruled that Aiko Solar did not infringe upon Maxeon Solar’s EP2297788B1 patent for back-contact (BC) solar cells.

Novel research from Germany and the USA has analyzed the impact of heat pump (HP) integration on the ability of day-ahead load forecasting in energy communities. Using different models, the scientists have also investigated whether HP loads should be forecasted separately from the rest of the household or both together.