Italy

Alessandro Barin, CEO of FuturaSun, spoke with pv magazine at the recent Intersolar 2023 trade show about the PV module manufacturer’s plans to expand in China and its home market of Italy. He said European and Chinese manufacturers take different approaches to new factories, but the two sides will need to come together to build a sustainable global supply chain.

An Italian research group has assessed the advantages of combining solar power generation in greenhouses with vertical farming. The scientists claim this new approach offers better land use while increasing agricultural yield.

The Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (Enea) will soon release an online map to identify suitable sites for agrivoltaics. The map, based on landscape indicators, will provide qualitative and quantitative information to facilitate the selection of appropriate locations for the integration of agriculture and solar energy.

Oxford nanoSystems (OnS) has started working with electrolyzer manufacturers to test and scale up hydrogen production.

The European solar landscape changed forever in 2022 and managing the supply chain, grid, and permitting constraints will be key to a solar-dominated energy future for the continent.

Italy’s Giulio Barbieri has developed a solar pergola for gardens that can be combined with battery storage, offering 3 kW to 5 kW of power and a storage capacity of 5 kWh.

With its new module, the company is targeting domestic and small industrial installation applications with a product designed specifically for small spaces.

UK-based developer Aura Power plans to build a large scale storage system in Maddaloni, southern Italy. It secured final approval for the project in early June.

In another interview from the series held at Intersolar 2023, pv magazine spoke with Paolo Rocco Viscontini, president of the PV association Italia Solare. He said the Italian solar market is now inevitably poised to see more growth across all segments this year and during the current decade. He also spoke about market drivers, current demand, and the PPA business, as well as large-scale and small-sized storage.

Vargas, Northvolt’s parent company, has launched Aira, a new business venture that will sell heat pumps on a monthly fee basis. The venture is in the pilot phase in Italy and will expand to Germany and the United Kingdom later this year. It plans to start production in 2024 at a factory in Wroclaw, Poland.