Germany

With COP24 climate change meeting looming, a German-led e-mobility and renewable energy alliance has signalled it is time for elected members to start delivering on carbon emission reductions before we pass the point of no return.

Two new reports from BloombergNEF recommend that the two northern European countries should implement policies to accelerate the adoption of energy storage and smart electric vehicle charging, while also improving demand response and interconnection to Nordic hydropower reservoirs. All of these actions are expected to further reduce fossil fuel dependence and add flexibility to their respective energy markets.

The research team was able to improve the cell efficiency by 2.1%. The cell silicon layer was etched on the back-side, while a a polymer light management (LM) foil was applied to the front-side of the device.

The German Federal Network Agency has selected 36 solar PV power projects with a combined capacity of 201 MW in the mixed energy auction, which ended with a final average price of €0.0527/kWh.

In March of this year, two unknown men in Haan, Germany, dropped acid on Innogy board member Bernhard Günter. In September, the prosecutor announced the investigation was closed. Innogy, however, hopes to find new clues through the reward.

In the world of data centers, two developments have finally joined hands: The rapid increase in required computing power, and the energy transition. This is not only sustainable, but strong business cases are evolving, as was witnessed at this year’s The smarter E Europe in Munich.

The Federal Ministry of Economics has published further details of possible battery cell production on a gigawatt scale. At the Networking Conference Electromobility 2018 in Berlin this week, Minister Peter Altmaier stressed the urgency of the project, for Germany and Europe to be independent of Asia and the US in storage technology.

The German PV equipment provider saw sales increase by a third in the first three quarters of 2018. Full year 2018 guidance remains unchanged.

A team of researchers from Germany’s Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg has developed a new approach to perovskite cell production, which they say could result in better stability and longer lifetimes. The team also made detailed observation of the perovskite’s formation and decay, which could help to inform further research into high performance solar cells.

In the first nine months of 2018, the energy division of the Germany-based group recorded a loss of over €10 million. By the end of the year, earnings are expected to enter positive territory, however,