Europe

Corporate renewable energy purchases are at an all time high. In Europe alone, a record-breaking 4 GW of corporate power purchase agreements were signed in 2020, bringing the overall total to 15 GW. Globally, this figure is even higher. As part of the UP Initiative’s quarterly theme on ‘Sustainable electricity and corporates’ critical solar role’, pv magazine spoke to Hannah Hunt, Impact Director at RE-Source, a European alliance of stakeholders representing clean energy buyers and suppliers, about how the business model landscape for such purchases is evolving, and the challenges the sector faces, including shortages in renewable energy supply across Europe.

A consortium led by The Mobility House has installed its first storage facility comprising both used and new Renault ZOE batteries in France, thus growing the network of such storage facilities in Europe.

The German energy storage business has invested an unspecified amount in compatriot Stercom Power Solutions, which offers the ability to transfer electricity, untethered, from a magnetic coil to a receiver coil on the underside of new-energy vehicles.

The ‘EBA250 Academy’ battery technician, engineer and researcher skills courses offered in Spain by EU body EIT InnoEnergy will also be rolled out in France, after approval from Paris.

A shipment of modules from the Chinese solar manufacturer was reportedly seized in the Netherlands last month on the orders of Korean rival Hanwha Q Cells, which persuaded a Dutch court the products might be distributed in third-party nations in infringement of one of its European patents.

The UAE-based, state-owned renewables company had its original suggestion of a $0.0299/kWh price for the solar power generated refused by Yerevan, with the government putting the project out to a competitive tender. Masdar has won the bidding, but at a reduced energy tariff.

Plus, the Norwegian government is set to devote €2.5 million into a joint venture trying to develop liquid organic hydrogen carrier solutions for shipping by the middle of the decade.

The Greek Ministry of the Environment and Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding with a clutch of private companies to turn the small Aegean island of Halki green as a demonstration of the effectiveness of its planned GR-Eco Islands Initiative.

The Cheer-Up project aims to enhance the performance of ‘upgraded metallurgical-grade (UMG) silicon for multi-crystalline solar cells and demonstrate it is a competitive alternative to polysilicon by achieving similar efficiencies at lower cost and with less environmental impact. Researchers also want to demonstrate UMG can be used to manufacture the most advanced cell structures.

Around 500 open-pit lakes left behind as a legacy of Germany’s open-cast lignite mining industry could potentially host more than 50 GW of solar generation capacity. With that in mind, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is financing a three-year study into the technology’s revenue potential.