France

A French consortium has commissioned an 89 kWp pilot project featuring 252 vertically installed solar panels. The companies are now trying to assess the impact of vertical bifacial solar panels on grasslands.

South Korean industrial giant Hanwha launched its new Q Energy business over the summer, and is moving forward with an ambitious strategy of energy projects across the European continent. pv magazine caught up with Sang Chull Chung, CEO of Q Energy Group, for a look at its plans to accelerate deployment of renewables to alleviate Europe’s energy challenges.

The Clean H2 Infra Fund has closed with new investors to mobilize up to €20 billion ($19.4 billion) of investment capacity over the next six years for heavy mobility and energy-intensive industries. Toshiba has revealed new production tech for electrolysis electrodes that slashes iridium use, while Hyundai Heavy Industries has kicked off a demo project for fuel cell vessels.

Maxeon has closed its last PV module factory in Europe, as it cannot remain competitive due to its small size and high raw material costs.

Enel Green Power’s initial tests show that the addition of DC/DC MPPT converters to a pilot PV plant has driven a 1% energy production gain. It now plans to deploy the solution on a 1 MW power plant in Italy.

Developers recently commissioned two different wine-related agrivoltaic projects in Europe.

Soren and Envie 2E Aquitaine have inaugurated a new solar module recycling facility in Saint-Loubès, France.

Saint-Gobain has acquired a minority stake in Megasol, a Swiss manufacturer of building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) modules.

DualSun’s new Flash 425 Shingle all-black modules have 425 W of nominal power and a power conversion efficiency of 20.4%.

Saft, a unit of TotalEnergies, has launched a new LFP battery storage system that is optimized for time-shifting applications.