Spain

Solaria secured a ten-year deal to supply solar power from a 150 MW of generation capacity this week and a Sino-Israeli consortium signed a deal to supply energy from 50 MW of capacity over the same term.

International researchers have analyzed the potential of sodium-based energy storage and found recent technical advances have arrived faster than those for the lithium-ion batteries which have been studied for three decades. Issues remain, however, before sodium constitutes a complementary option to lithium.

The Spanish energy company, which has hydrogen projects under way in its homeland and the United Kingdom, says it will allocate new resources to position itself at the forefront of the supply of renewables-powered hydrogen.

U.S.-Spanish researchers have proposed a new way to assess the reliability of PV modules and their warranties. It is impossible to fulfill a 25-year warranty if the threshold of returned modules exceeds 5% and the annual degradation rate is over 0.73%.

Spanish engineer Isigenere has developed floating PV mounting structures based on virgin high-density polyethylene and says the manufacturing process, which features plastic injection, can produce around 1 MW of the product every five days.

Three big projects are candidates for support from the Covid recovery plan laid out by the bloc.

Module manufacturer Trina Solar has completed the acquisition of the Spanish tracker company, inverter maker Sungrow has secured contracts from Three Gorges New Energy and Akcome Technologies has completed construction of its heterojunction cell and module factory.

Solar is regaining speed in Spain after the Covid-19 crisis. Iberdrola is now building 150 MW, while Foresight recently acquired a 26.1 MW project. FRV has secured financing for a 136 MW array, Audax plans to issue green bonds to finance its pipeline, and an 800 MW solar park is expected to provide with power Alcoa’s aluminum plant in Galicia.

Iasol has developed a new way to protect solar plants in windy conditions. The Spanish developer said the solution barely has an impact on project costs or output, while preventing expensive damages.

Endesa, the Spanish unit of Italian power group Enel, is using a new technology in the construction of three solar parks in southern Spain.