Italy

CNPC and Sinopec are working on transporting hydrogen via pipelines, while Matrix Renewables has expanded its green hydrogen partnership with Rolwind Renovables.

The European Commission is now reviewing Italy’s new rules on agrivoltaics. They define which “innovative agrivoltaic systems” are entitled to the Italian government’s €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion) incentive scheme for agrivoltaics.

Scientists in Italy have looked at how flywheel storage and reversible solid oxide cells could be integrated with lithium-ion batteries in minigrids powered by solar. They found that flywheels combined with batteries could be the cheapest option for power smoothing.

Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy says that hydrogen pipelines will be “far better” than vessels at moving hydrogen over short- and medium-range distances in the years ahead.

As efficiency records tumble and devices become more stable, Europe is seeing the beginnings of a race to commercialize high-efficiency perovskite-silicon tandem solar products, reports Valerie Thompson.

High interest rates and hefty capex drove up the average payback time for solar in Germany, Spain and Italy to around 20 years in 2022, according to a new report by SolarPower Europe (SPE) and Energy Brainpool. pv magazine recently spoke with SPE Market Analyst Christophe Lits to crunch the numbers.

Researchers in Italy have used blade coating to develop a flexible solar cell that does not contain toxic dimethyl sulfoxide. They used the cell to fabricate small solar modules with efficiencies of up to 6.58%.

A European Union-funded project is bringing building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) solutions to eight historical cities in Europe. pv magazine recently spoke with Júlia Pereira, project coordinator for EDP New, about the innovative solutions being blended into the landscape in Évora, Portugal.

Italian most important solar trade show has doubled in size this year, with a high number of visitors. Italian solar analysts say the success of the event reflects the strong growth of the nation’s PV market.

Enel Green Power says it has started working on the largest agrivoltaics plant in Italy. It will feature bifacial PV modules mounted on trackers. Olive trees will grow around the solar panel rows.