Finland

The new SolarSTEPS forecasting method improves ensemble forecast quality by 9.3% compared to approaches that consider only cloud advective motion.

A Finnish-German research group has developed a 6 × 6 mm low bandgap GaAsNBi solar cell with an active area of 0.25 cm2. The device has an energy bandgap of 0.86 eV and is reportedly suitable for applications in multi-junction solar cells.

Scientists in Finland have developed a new method of assessing the long-term performance of vertical bifacial PV systems in Nordic conditions. The experimental setup consisted of a east-west oriented vertical array equipped with power, temperature, and plane-of-array irradiance sensors, wind speed and global horizontal irradiance sensors, and a weather station.

India and Saudi Arabia have agreed to develop electrical interconnections and low-carbon hydrogen, while Masdar has partnered with Boeing ion the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry.

The first tender under the European Union’s new €40 million ($41.8 million) multilateral solar scheme – targeting 5 MW to 100 MW projects based in Finland and providing energy to Luxembourg – has been ‘oversubscribed’ with bids ‘significantly exceeding target volumes’, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy recently announced.

Swedish solar developer Alight says it will enter the Finnish PV market for the first time early next year with a 100 MW ground-mounted solar park in Eurajoki. Alight COO Warren Campbell tells pv magazine that the array will be a ‘big project by Finnish standards.’

A British research group has aggregated information from seven field studies on heat pumps from around the world and has found air-source devices have an average coefficient of performance (COP) of 2.74 when temperatures are above −10 C. Below that, COP is between 1.5 and 2.

New research from Finland shows that the best season for rooftop PV generation in the Arctic is spring, and that the best tilt angle for rooftop systems is 28 degrees. It also showed that vertical PV installations perform better in winter.

Researchers in Finland say that decentralized heat pumps could provide significant cost savings when selling surplus heat into district networks. However, they warned that capital expenditure remains high.

As the US and British government press ahead with their hydrogen support projects, a team from Korea and the US has developed an iridium nanostructure catalyst, which decreased the amount of the chemical element. Meanwhile, hydrogen projects are proceeding in West Virginia, Denmark, Finland, and Japan.