Germany

Scientists in Germany have developed a new open-access approach to assess regional rooftop PV potential. The ETHOS.PASSION approach combines two deep learning models to identify rooftops and superstructures.

Air Products has announced plans for Europe’s largest blue hydrogen production plant, while RAG Austria says it has commissioned “the world’s first 100% hydrogen storage facility in a porous underground reservoir.”

Hering Group, a centuries-old German construction and engineering company, says it has acquired the PV manufacturing facilities of organic solar film developer Asca, based in Kitzingen, Germany. The previous owners of the facilities describe Asca as a “largely loss-making” venture lacking in sales.

Technaxx, a company based in the German state of Hessen, says that its new Technaxx 4G Wildcam includes a 5 W monocrystalline silicon solar panel and network module.

Solyco, a PV system specialist, has deployed a 12.64 kW vertical PV rooftop system made with glass-glass bifacial tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) modules in Hannover, Germany. It also installed a 10 kW vertical array in Hamburg.

Scientists in Germany conceived a solar-powered energy storage system that can reportedly achieve the high voltage levels required for applications in Internet of Things environments. The system combines a multi-junction organic solar cell with a dual-ion organic battery.

Italian energy group Enel says it is scrapping its plans to build a hydrogen project in La Spezia, Italy, despite €13.72 million ($14.7 million) in European subsidies, while Toyota has introduced its new Crown Sedan fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) in Japan.

The “Folie40” project involves backsheet makers, solar module manufacturers, and research institutions such as Folienwerk Wolfen, Meyer Burger, Aluminum Féron, Fraunhofer ISE, and the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences.

Bosch has invested $106 million in a heat pump factory near Porto, Portugal, where it produces heat pump systems with propane as a refrigerant. It says its commitment to heat pump development and production will hit €1 billion ($1.06 billion) by the end of this decade.

Germany’s HPS Home Power Solutions says its new 15 kW system uses surplus power from PV installations to produce hydrogen via electrolysis.