Poland

The solar-powered electronic shelf labels are intended for use in retail stores. Users are enabled to change prices centrally and synchronously across all retail stores within a chain.

The Eastern European country is expected to reach 10 GW of solar capacity by the end of 2022, according to the Polish research institute Instytut Energetyki Odnawialnej. This projected growth should materialize despite a strong contraction in the distributed generation segment.

The eastern European country deployed more than 2 GW of new PV capacity in the first nine months of 2021.

Aukera Energy, launched as a brand today but staffed by clean energy professionals who have worked with backer AtlasInvest for at least a decade, says it already has more than 1 GW of solar and wind capacity under development in Italy, Poland and the U.K. and wants to almost treble the scale of that portfolio within 12 months.

Built by Polish energy producer ZE PAK, the 70 MW solar plant will sell solar power to Polish telecommunications group Polsat under a 15-year power purchase agreement.

The Euro trade body has promised to monitor the developing solar jobs market annually from now on, and pointed to Poland’s position at the top of the tree of EU member states for PV jobs last year as evidence the technology can still benefit from legislative backing.

Menlo Electric said the procured modules will be primarily offered to B2C and B2B installers across Central Europe.

Belgian materials company Umicore has signed a contract with Australia headquartered Vulcan Energy Resources to purchase up to 42,000 tons of lithium hydroxide over a five year period beginning in 2025. The material will be used in Umicore’s production of cathode materials for lithium-ion cell manufacturers.

UK based developer Lightsource BP today announced plans to enter the Polish market and develop nine projects amounting to 757 MW, working alongside an unnamed local partner. Lightsource BP says around half of the projects could begin construction next year, and that bringing all of the pipeline to completion would require total investment of €500 million.

With pressure mounting on the world’s governments to turn their back on the fossil fuel, China and peers in South East Asia, Europe and South Asia could help deliver a coal-free future at the COP26 climate summit planned in Glasgow in November.