Germany

Elsewhere, the German government wants to allow the testing of hydrogen production from offshore electricity, while a French consortium intends to promote the use of hydrogen at airports and build a European airport network to accommodate future hydrogen aircraft. Furthermore, the Port of Rotterdam is increasing its efforts to become a hydrogen hub.

The German research institute has compared the CO2 emissions of glass-glass and glass-backsheet solar modules manufactured in Germany, the EU and China, and found glass-glass modules enable an additional emissions reduction ranging between 7.5 to 12.5% compared to PV modules with backsheet film, regardless of the location.

German manufacturer Solarwatt today announced the opening of a new 300 MW module production facility, as well as new battery pack assembly lines, located on the outskirts of Dresden. The company invested around €35 million in the new lines and says it will begin delivering modules produced on the new equipment to customers as early as next week.

The German solar manufacturer has unveiled three new formats for its glass-film and glass-glass PV modules for the first quarter of 2022.

The German research institute has unveiled a novel interconnection technology for shingled PV modules that eliminates the need for electrically conductive adhesives and screen-printed busbars. It consists of an 8-μm-thick aluminum foil that is joined to the silicon nitride (SiNX) passivation via laser metal bond (LMB). When integrated in a solar module, the efficiency of the new interconnector improved by 0.7%.

The renewables-powered sustainable hydrogen announcements have come as a group of international researchers made controversial claims about the potential of gas-fired blue hydrogen to be part of the climate change solution.

The 120 MW solar plant will sell power under two long-term PPAs for the electricity to be generated by 90 MW of its capacity.

BayWa r.e. and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have built a 258 kW agrivoltaic system that hosts apple cultivation under four different crop protection systems. The system utilizes agrivoltaic technology with permanent, light-permeable PV modules that block rain, and tracking PV module tech that blocks rain only if necessary.

With pressure mounting on the world’s governments to turn their back on the fossil fuel, China and peers in South East Asia, Europe and South Asia could help deliver a coal-free future at the COP26 climate summit planned in Glasgow in November.

A call for grant proposals has been promised this month, with the bloc’s executive yesterday firing the gun on a separate exercise related to cross-border EU energy infrastructure projects.