Netherlands

A report by Norwegian energy consultant DNV GL has considered the opportunity for long-term energy storage to play a role in balancing annual supply and demand fluctuations in a renewables-led grid. Using 58 years of Dutch weather and energy consumption data, the study found long-term solutions such as green hydrogen could make a valuable contribution – but perhaps not as much as some analysts believe.

The Dutch government said that the budget increase will allow several solar projects that were excluded from the previous round to secure contracts in the next one. In the last round, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency received €9.06 billion of applications for just €5 billion of available subsidies.

It is not clear whether panels will line the Rijksweg 59 highway or be sited next to a stretch of it. UK oil giant Shell is planning the installation as part of a renewables cluster to also feature wind power.

The list of major solar industry events put on hold due to the Covid-19 virus is lengthening. Today, Solar Solutions Amsterdam became the latest event planned for this month and next which the organizers must reschedule for later in the year.

Researchers led by Belgian institute imec claim to have achieved the result with a 1cm² perovskite tandem solar cell. The result tops the 24.6% efficiency the consortium announced in September 2018. The cell’s developers are now aiming for 30%.

PV project developer Solarfield is planning to build a plant under the SDE+ renewables incentives program. Construction is planned to start in 2021. The solar park will be in the province of Flevoland, one of the areas where grid congestion is jeopardizing the deployment of large scale solar.

A Dutch research team has used highly transparent, hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon oxide layers to improve the optoelectrical performance of contact stacks in a silicon heterojunction device. The material is said to offer superior electrical as well as favorable optical properties.

Solar has a small but increasingly important role to play in the Nordic energy transition. And while there is still a gap in PV cost-competitiveness across some markets, interest in solar facades, BIPV solutions and C&I applications is growing.

German renewables company Baywa r.e. has started work on its fourth utility scale floating PV project in the water-rich country.

Dutch transmission system operator Enexis is deploying 11 “e-house” substations in the northern Netherlands, where grid capacity for large scale clean energy projects is limited. The company said it will invest €43 million in the plan “to speed up the energy transition”.