Europe

Solar industries bodies including SolarPower Europe, Germany’s BSW and Ukraine’s ASEU have joined forces to send a stream of modules, inverters and batteries to embattled Ukraine. The donations are critical as some hospitals have been without power for weeks, leaving surgeons to operate under headlamps.

Trane has released a rooftop air-to-air heat pump that can produce between 14.5 kW and 37.4 kW of heat and between 16.5 kW and 38.4 kW of cooling. The new device can purportedly be adapted to cold-climate applications by adding complementary heating sources such as electric heaters or hot water coils.

French developer Valeco has deployed an agrivoltaic installation on a fodder field and has found out it offers benefits for the quality and quantity of the crop, as well as for sheep grazing under the solar panels.

Data released by the Hellenic Association of Photovoltaic Companies show that the Greek solar market installed three times more capacity in 2022 compared to 2021.

With calls for a revival in European PV manufacturing becoming more urgent, the Environmental, Social, and Governance credentials of its PV producers are being touted as a way in which manufacturing can be supported or even protected. The case for the ESG credentials of European manufacturing was advanced by multiple speakers at the 2023 SolarPower Summit this week in Brussels.

The Swiss government introduced measures to fast-track permitting and construction of alpine PV in October 2022. It is set to announce a new incentive scheme for these installations in April 2023. pv magazine spoke with Lionel Bloch, renewable energy project manager at Swiss engineering firm Planair, about the new provisions.

The EU’s new state aid rules should lead to more investments in clean tech production. The European Solar Manufacturing Council said the new framework will be the basis of Europe’s future manufacturing ecosystem.

Netze BW has increased the amount of hydrogen it is injecting into the regional grid of Oehringen, in the southwest of Germany, from 20% to 30%. pv magazine spoke with the project leader, Heike Grüner, about the next phases of the project.

Italy hit 959 MW/1,826 MWh of distributed storage capacity at the end of 2022. The segment continues to grow in the country, led by the regions of Lombardy and Veneto.

Tractebel, DEME, and Jan De Nul will deploy a pilot offshore floating PV facility off the Belgian coast in the summer. The Seavolt floating platform is reportedly able to withstand difficult offshore conditions.