Europe

Scientists in Spain have assessed the viability of ‘power-to-heat-to-power storage’ in a residential solar installation in Madrid. The technology could reduce electricity bills by more than 70% and would have a 12 to 15-year payback period, according to the researchers.

Oil and gas business Repsol has launched Solmatch, the nation’s first large solar community.

Portugal set a new coal-free record because of the pandemic as Belgium and Israel moved to help the renewables industry. But there was grim news in Mexico and Turkey, and Bangladeshi clean energy firms have appealed for more assistance.

French PV company Solea has developed a system which can produce 8-16 liters of solar-powered disinfectant solution per day.

The German solar developer has secured a power purchase agreement from French energy giant Engie, which has agreed to buy electricity from a 41.5 MW solar plant under development in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern region.

Researchers have studied the potential of using compressed air to store renewable energy in offshore saline aquifers. The technology could hold 77-96 TWh for up to two months in British waters, although the costs have proven hard to pin down.

Chief executive Gunter Erfurt told a German radio station a solar factory in North Rhine-Westphalia could supply high-efficiency panels for a 10 GW floating solar project on the vast Hambach open-cast coal mine.

The effect the coronavirus pandemic is having on energy systems and environmental policy in Europe was discussed at a recent machine learning and climate change workshop, along with the help artificial intelligence can offer to those planning electricity access in Africa.

In March alone, 368 MW of new PV capacity was deployed, representing an increase of just 18 MW from the same month a year earlier.

A study by the International Energy Agency into the chilling effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on energy demand states renewables will be ‘the only energy source likely to experience demand growth for the rest of 2020’. The slower the economic recovery, the more the fossil fuel industry will suffer.