Europe

Around 31.7 MW was installed and 1,613 rooftop PV systems were deployed under the Plusskundeordningen solar rebate program last year. This compares to 31.9 MW and 1,666 projects a year earlier. Low power prices and policy confusion are the main causes of this slight market contraction.

The scheme is now under public consultation and is aimed at enabling citizens, farmers, business owners, and community organizations to sell excess solar power to the grid.

The inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States has brought hope the country will play a central role in the world’s energy transition and combating climate change. However, rather than teaching other countries lessons, the U.S. will need to catch up with the rest of the world, and it needs to do so quickly – the world won’t wait for the U.S.

At the end of December, the country’s cumulative installed solar capacity surpassed 10 GW. PV was able to cover around 6.6% of Dutch electricity demand last year, according to a new report from Dutch New Energy.

Falling module prices will help PV post another record year after an estimated 132 GW was installed worldwide in 2020, according to an energy transition investment trends report published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Batteries based on vanadium or zinc bromide represent the cutting edge of redox flow storage tech, an international research team has claimed. They have identified challenges and opportunities for about a dozen redox flow storage technologies, while providing estimates of their current and projected levelized costs of storage.

Scientists in China found that capsaicin, the natural compound responsible for a chili pepper’s spicy flavor, can also act as a ‘secret ingredient’ in perovskite solar cells, making them both more efficient and stable. The group added capsaicin to the precursor materials of a common perovskite, leading to dramatic improvements in the resulting solar cell.

The private-sector arm of the World Bank, which claims to leverage $3 of its own capital and $8 from third parties for every dollar invested in its blended finance funds, has attempted to quantify what devoting Covid recovery funds to green investment would mean for emerging economies.

A recent ruling of the Belgian constitutional court has canceled the 15-year grace period granted to residential PV system owners to keep operating under net metering despite the arrival of smart meters. The Flemish government said it will provide some compensation for the financial losses that this decision will cause.

Scientists in Spain and Colombia took a closer look at the degradation mechanisms affecting perovskite solar cells, and developed a new, high throughput method to characterize their performance in an outdoor setting. The group evaluated the method through outdoor testing on perovskite modules manufactured in a lab. it expects its findings to offer easier device characterization and better understanding of the degradation mechanisms affecting perovskite solar cells, both important factors in the technology’s development.