Europe

The Dutch start-up, founded by former Tesla leaders, is taking a novel approach to sodium-ion battery technology, optimizing it for integration with solar power plants. Its technology is set to be deployed for the first time in a Dutch solar-plus-storage project later this year.

Deployment hits ten year high in the United Kingdom with connection of largest plant to date and a ramping up of small-scale installations. Government targets accelerated deployment with new support for rooftop installations and ongoing CfD auction.

Iberdrola has commissioned Spain’s first utility-scale batteries at Alarcón, while Spain’s battery pipeline grows as major utilities develop new projects amid negative electricity prices.

The Ariya demonstration vehicle features 3.8 m² of Lightyear’s custom solar panels integrated across the hood, roof, and tailgate. Testing showed that the car could generate 0.5 kWh of solar energy during a 2‑hour, 80 kilometer trip, delivering up to 3 kilometers of range at no extra cost or charging time.

Self-consumption PV projects accounted for most of the new solar capacity added in Cyprus last year, despite record levels of renewable energy curtailment, according to industry data.

The European Union added 27.1 GWh of battery energy storage capacity in 2025, with utility-scale systems accounting for the majority of new installations as residential storage declined amid lower electricity prices and reduced support schemes, according to a new report from SolarPower Europe.

Provisional estimates from Dutch New Energy Research indicate the Netherlands added 0.54 GW of residential solar and 1.54 GW of C&I and large-scale solar last year, taking the country’s cumulative capacity to just shy of 30 GW.

Pilot long-duration energy storage (LDES) project uses low viscosity, denser-than-water fluid. RheEnergise is panning for future projects in 10 MW to 100 MW range, with six to 20 hours of storage capacity.

Serbia had a record year for solar additions in 2025, led by deployment of large-scale plants. The country has a gigawatt-size project pipeline, although most remain in the earlier stages of development and are not expected to come online this year.

Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) is developing the world’s first medium-voltage PV plants in Germany to cut material use, reduce costs, and simplify grid integration. They will test 1,500 V and 3 kV string configurations to create cost-effective, voltage-resistant components for large-scale solar.