Europe

HDF Energy has expanded its operations to make fuel cells in France. It says it plans to produce green hydrogen infrastructure for low-carbon hydrogen production and non-intermittent renewable electrical power in 30 countries throughout the world.

Matteo Salvini, head of one of the parties in Italy’s coalition government, last year pointed to a future energy system based on rapidly deployed nuclear generators, sowing further doubt for renewables investors. Patrick Donati, founder of Italian independent power producer (IPP) Terrawatt, explains why nuclear will have no future in his homeland and why installing panels on a limited amount of farmland – rather than costly agrivoltaics – could be a necessary short-term climate fix.

German engineering association the VDMA reports strong PV equipment exports in the second quarter, representing 92.5% of sales. Overall, PV equipment sales were up by 50% compared to the first quarter of the year and up slightly compared to the same period last year, but incoming orders for PV equipment were down by 14%.

Portugal generated 172.5 GWh of renewable electricity between Friday and Saturday. Its output included 97.6 GWh of wind, 68.3 GWh of hydro, and 6.6 GWh of PV. It exported surplus power to Spain, while consuming 131.1 GWh.

Segula Technologies and Wind my Roof recently installed 10 hybrid wind-solar generators on the rooftop of a commercial building. Each system features a 1,500 W wind turbine and two 800 W solar modules. A smart storage system will support a microgrid in the building.

An international group of scientists has fabricated an inverted perovskite solar cell that claims both high power conversion efficiency and a promising high degree of stability. A champion cell achieved a power conversion efficiency of 25.3%, with an encapsulated version retaining 95% of the initial efficiency after extensive heat and humidity testing. 

Scottish Renewables, a major renewable energy lobby group, says it welcomes the Scottish government’s commitment to increase the nation’s total installed PV capacity by 4 GW to 6 GW by 2030.

Researchers in the United Kingdom have tested the perfomance of cadmium telluride solar cells deployed on the AlSat-1N 3U CubeSat satellite from 2016 to 2022. Their findings show the devices exhibited no significant performance changes, nor any sign of delamination. 

The Dutch authorities have started building a national hydrogen network, while Fortescue has acquired a 12.5% stake in Norwegian Hydrogen.