Italy

Luxcara says preparatory work for its Bodø electrolysis plant is underway in Norway, with commercial operations set to begin in 2026, while ACWA Power and Snam have signed an agreement to deliver hydrogen from Saudi Arabia to Europe.

The Energy Industries Council (EIC) says 41 hydrogen projects are set to begin development across Africa in the next five years, led by North African nations like Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco.

Researchers in Italy have analyzed the techno-economic viability of enhancing three pumped hydro plants in Italy with floating PV on the lower basin. They say that, with their wide results, consequences could be extrapolated to similar regions.

With the first auctions for procuring new storage capacity in Italy expected in the second quarter of 2025, Aurora Energy Research has analyzed the internal rate of return for projects supported by the Energy Storage Capacity Procurement Mechanism (MACSE) and found that in certain cases expected returns exceed 9%, providing a high level of revenue security.

The Italian manufacturer said its new Large Evo PL heat pump can achieve a seasonal coefficient of performance of up to 4.17. The system can also reportedly deliver water temperature of up to 60 C and, when stacked in series, reach a maximum system capacity of 1,660 kW.

The researchers conducted a case study on a solid oxide fuel cell system deployed in a nearly zero-energy single-floor villa with a size of 80 m2 located in southern Italy. They found that, in particular conditions of photovoltaic production, the system is not only able to meet the home electric loads, but also to inject surplus energy into the network.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) has released its first map of potential geologic hydrogen reserves in the United States, while Plug Power has secured a $1.66 billion US government loan guarantee to scale low-carbon hydrogen production nationwide.

The United Arab Emirates, Italy, and Albania plan to cooperate on gigawatt-scale renewable projects in Albania and a cross-border transmission link to deliver power to Italy.

Italy has expanded incentives for PV projects using EU-made modules under its Transizione 5.0 Tax Credit scheme, offering up to 35% coverage and higher calculation bases for high-efficiency cells and modules.

In five key trends, pv magazine looks back over a year that saw PV module prices fall lower than many thought possible, while demand was restrained by grid congestion, among other challenges. Energy storage has had a strong year and geopolitics is seeing solar and battery manufacturing enter new regions as competition drives technical innovation.