Europe

The five-hectare project is part of the Vinci Group’s plan to develop unused areas close to the motorways operated by its unit Vinci Autoroute.

Industry association SolarPower Europe expects little change in the line-up of Europe’s biggest residential battery markets in four years’ time, with a rush of retrofits as turn-of-the-century solar feed-in tariffs begin to expire, set to keep Germany way ahead of the pack.

The scheme provides rebates for installations larger than 3 kW in size provided that the grant does not exceed RON20,000 for conventional projects and RON25,000 for projects in isolated areas.

Developed by German company Sinn Power, the floating platform currently hosts solar modules totaling 80 kW and may also embed small wind turbines and wave energy converters.

The German Federal Cartel Office is currently reviewing the transaction. RWE confirmed the plan.

Swedish power utilities and electricity traders are increasing their efforts to buy surplus solar power from residential prosumers under fair competition conditions, according to analysts from local consultancy Becquerel Sweden. In a conversation with pv magazine, they analyzed the reasons for this new corporate mentality and observed a possible trend for the global solar market.

The Kazakh authorities allocated 20 MW of PV capacity in the procurement exercise and said another 20 MW solar auction will be held next year.

Developed and distributed by Portuguese start-up ChemiTek, the detergent is claimed to reduce water consumption by about 50% and increase energy production by up to 5%. The product was recently certified by the German laboratory TÜV Sud, according to the EN 61215 standard.

Developed by scientists in Malta, the tool is said to predict yield gains or losses that waves can determine in offshore PV installations. The research group identified three movements an offshore array can be subject to, and for each of them provided specific measurements.

Queequeg Renewables says it has formed a joint venture with an Italian private equity investor to fund the first slice of a planned 1.3 GW solar-plus-storage portfolio in Britain.