Solar the fastest growing European clean power source
The latest numbers released by EU data body Eurostat indicate renewables, including hydropower, contributed 37% of Europe’s gross electricity consumption in 2020, up from 34% a year earlier.
Hungary allocates 183 MW of solar in third renewables auction, average price for utility-scale projects at $0.049/kWh
The auction has been significantly oversubscribed and has seen 57 successful projects among 183 submitted. Around 299 GWh of power was contracted and will be provided exclusively by PV projects.
Utility scale solar goes merchant in Hungary
Photon Energy has deployed its first merchant PV project in Hungary. The company said the €1 million plant may be the first in a series selling power to the spot market. In an interview with pv magazine, Hungarian renewable energy specialist, Ferenc Kis, stated that these projects may become more frequent in the future, due to new coordinated grid connection capacity allocation.
Puffer fish inspired floating PV structure
With a new system for floating photovoltaic power plants, engineers from Germany want to make the application cheaper, higher-yielding, and safer. The result is somewhat reminiscent of a pufferfish, which also gave the system its name.
Commission flags up €875m renewables project fund
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.
Australia grid delays affect Dutch developer’s figures
Photon Energy reported raised revenue from sales of electricity in the second quarter of the year, compared with 12 months earlier, but said grid hold-ups at 14.6 MW of solar projects Down Under had affected performance.
Europe had just 650 MW of solar cell manufacturing capacity at the end of 2020
The latest update to the Photovoltaics Report produced by research organization the Fraunhofer ISE has offered up the usual slew of interesting stats on the state of solar across the continent.
Universal electricity access by 2030 remains a distant dream
Energy efficiency, electrification of heating and transport, and the provision of clean cooking facilities are all going in the wrong direction as the Covid crisis deprived millions in sub-Saharan Africa of electricity use, according to a report by the IEA, IRENA, WHO, World Bank and UN Statistics Division.
Eurostat figures confirm rise of renewables during Covid-hit 2020
While solar, wind and hydro generated 80 TWh more electricity last year than in 2019, coal and oil use fell in every EU member state, and Greek energy emissions fell almost 19%.
Hungary launches third renewables auction
The Hungarian energy regulator expects to contract around 300 GWh of renewable energy in the procurement exercise.
