Europe

A research team in Spain has developed a PV system layout for super-intensive olive groves. The scientists said the system must ensure high levels of transparency in order to avoid a negative impact on the olive yield.

The Italian authorities have allocated 58 MW of renewables capacity in the nation’s latest procurement exercise for clean energy. Developers have offered a maximum discount ranging between 2% and 2.1% from the auction ceiling price of €0.065 ($0.068)/kWh.

A French-Spanish research team developed organic photovoltaic modules embedded into plastic parts through high throughput injection molding. The researchers injected thermoplastic polyurethane in the modules and found it enhances their mechanical stability while keeping a high flexibility.

Encouraged by lab results and a feasibility study, Swedish startup, Green14, in collaboration with Sweden’s Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) plans to build a pilot-scale reactor to make solar grade silicon with a hydrogen plasma process. The company sees the pilot as a step towards using a more sustainable method to produce solar grade silicon for the PV industry at its own gigawatt-scale plant.

SolarPower Europe’s board members have issued a joint statement calling for three measures to safeguard the European solar industry, as they claim that tariffs and trade barriers are not viable solutions.

Germany has concluded a new renewables tender, securing 408 MW of capacity at an average price of €0.0833 ($0.09)/kWh.

‘It is a project that stands as an example of energy transition,’ Duarte Bello, CEO of EDP Renewables’ Europe and Latin America operations told pv magazine. The new 200 MW solar PV plant is now generating energy on a former brown open-pit lignite site.

A research team in Spain has developed an hourly mathematical model that reportedly allows for the optimal management of grid-connected renewable generation facilities and pumped hydro-energy storage with reversible pump turbine. The scientists tested the model on a potential pumped hydro-solar-wind complex in northern Spain and found that the combination of the three technologies may achieve considerable savings.

As the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies underlines the delays in hydrogen storage investments, a group of researchers have developed a cost-effective material to absorb hydrogen at non-cryogenic temperatures, which they consider optimal for fuel cell storage systems.

EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson, speaking at the European Heat Pump Association’s (EHPA) Heat Pump Forum this week, has reaffirmed the European Union’s commitment to decarbonizing heat.