Germany

The new electrolyser with anion exchange membrane technology is expected to produce 450 kilograms per day and will be available on the market in 2022.

Hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuels will not be able to move forward fast enough to replace fossil fuels and tackle climate change, according to a German-Swiss research team that claims direct electrification alternatives are cheaper and easier to implement. The scientists cite too-high prices, short-term scarcity and long-term uncertainty, as the main reasons for their skepticism.

German scientists have proposed a new design for stacks used in redox flow batteries. Through a powder-to-roll process, a device that weighs 80% less than a conventional stack was fabricated.

German solar association BSW and environmental association Naturschutzbund have published a joint paper that defines criteria that can be used to establish whether a ground-mounted solar plant is able to protect nature and species, as well as to add ecological value to the area it occupies.

A Carbon Tracker report estimates 60% of the world’s technical solar potential – enough to produce 3.5 exawatt-hours of clean electricity per year – would already be cheaper than fossil fuel if installed. Of the remainder, most would be in sub-Saharan Africa, a region which has the potential to be a global solar and wind powerhouse.

Manufactured by Germany’s Fenecon, the modular battery has a storage capacity ranging from 8 kWh to 22 kWh. The product is claimed to allow predictive, grid-friendly charging and discharging.

Germany wrapped up another oversubscribed tender for large-scale solar last week, as well as an innovation tender for storage-linked PV projects.

In the first three months of 2021, newly installed solar capacity reached 1.42 GW.

The 2021 edition of the International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaics (ITRPV) was published today by German engineering association VDMA. The report, which forecasts technology trends across the solar industry, expects PERC to maintain its position as the dominant cell technology and notes that large wafer formats are here to stay.

Sunowe’s trial over allegations of PV module smuggling is expected to resume on May 4. The company has been accused of not paying €20 million in anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs.