Spain

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.

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.

Iberdrola is using a springer spaniel in a solar park to smell electrical problems that could lead to power cuts. It is also using a robotic dog to detect and analyze faults in substations.

Spain’s Acciona Energia is using fiberglass from the blades of used wind turbines to make the torsion beams of solar trackers. It is using the tech as part of a pilot project in Badajoz, Spain.

SolarPower Europe says in a new report that households in Germany, Spain, and Italy can more than triple their savings by pairing PV with heat pumps. It said this combination helped families to save between 62% and 84% on their annual energy bills in 2022.

A Japanese state innovation fund has agreed to finance a coal-to-hydrogen project in Australia, while Honda says it has taken another step toward the commercialization of zero-emission backup power generation.

Spain installed 8,312 MW of new renewable energy capacity last year, including 4,281 MW of utility-scale solar, 2.64 GW of distributed-generation PV systems, and 1,382 MW of wind power.

Electriq and Zenith Energy Terminals are teaming up on hydrogen powder production in Amsterdam, while Universal Hydrogen has completed the world’s first passenger flight based on hydrogen fuel cell propulsion.

DMEGC Solar says its new tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar panels combine a double-glass design with half-cut n-type cell technology. It says the efficiency ratings range from 22.07% to 22.45%.

China’s GS Energy has developed a new lithium iron phosphate battery system with a nominal voltage of 96 V. It says that up to five 3.74 kWh modules can be stacked and connected in series for a total capacity of 18.7 kWh.