Germany

The US Department of Energy has allocated $7 billion for seven Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs (H2Hubs) to deploy commercial-scale clean hydrogen, while the Mission Possible Partnership, RMI, Systemiq, Power2X, and industry leaders have set up the Transatlantic Clean Hydrogen Trade Coalition (H2TC) to ship US clean hydrogen to Europe by 2026.

MVV Energie AG has commissioned one of Europe’s largest heat pumps. The system uses water from the Rhine River to supply hot water at temperatures ranging from 83 C to 99 C.

German equipment supplier 4JET has launched a new thin film system designed for P1, P2 and P3 laser scribing of perovskite, cadmium telluride (CdTe), and copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar technologies.

The Japanese government has confirmed to pv magazine that it is launching a new support scheme for hydrogen in aviation, while Japanese investors continue to actively pursue participation in a green ammonia project in South Africa.

European warehouses are reporting very high inventory levels for residential energy storage systems, with aggressive prices expected, as distributors need to start clearing their stocks, according to S&P Global.

The German authorities have attributed the recent explosion of a 30 kWh storage battery in a private home to a likely technical defect. The incident has left the home uninhabitable, and property damages will likely be substantial, according to investigators.

Qcells has acquired full ownership of intellectual property rights for LECO technology with the recent acquisition of Cell Engineering. The technology is known to enhance the efficiency of PERC and TOPCon solar cells.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Infrastructures and Geothermal Energy (Fraunhofer IEG) says it plans to open two new test benches for large heat pumps. Manufacturers, developers and project planners will have access to the test benches, in order to bring new systems to market maturity.

Fraunhofer ISE researchers have demonstrated for the first time the feasibility of the shingling approach with perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells. They also produced full format photovoltaic modules with a power conversion effciency of 22.8%.

pv magazine has learned that five solar-related fires in Germany and Austria occurred in late September. Photographs show that two of the blazes were likely caused by residential batteries manufactured by LG.