Spain

Under the umbrella of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 initiative, the research platform ERA has initiated a new batch of future energy projects. Looking at the list of winning projects, it is easy to tell that hydrogen, virtual power plant, and blockchain projects are really at the center of what Europe thinks will be important for its net-zero carbon plans by 2050.

Portuguese gas company Galp Energía says it will become “the largest solar energy company in the Iberian peninsula”. The agreement includes operating PV plants with an installed generation capacity of 900 MW plus a further 2.9 GW under development.

A list compiled by a British price comparison website draws upon data from German company Statista which shows clean energy – including hydro – made up 12.74% of the nation’s power mix at the end of September.

The German renewables group and brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev claim the transaction is the largest pan-European solar power deal with an industrial client to date. The companies have already agreed on a virtual power purchase agreement related to two Spanish PV plants that are scheduled for grid connection by spring 2022.

An international research group led by CIC EnergiGUNE, a Spanish research center, is designing new redox organic flow batteries. The researchers claim the batteries will offer longer duration, as well as higher power and energy densities, in a more environmentally sustainable format. The European Commission provided €3.8 million in funding for the initiative.

The developer issued the appeal for developers to come forward on the peninsula after selling its second subsidy-free Spanish solar project. The seller did not reveal how much insurance company Talanx has paid for the Don Rodrigo 2 facility.

IHS Markit has predicted another year of global solar growth but a peek behind the headline figures shows uncertainty dogging the markets of China and India, two of the most important markets and biggest polluters.

By this time next year we may be able to wave goodbye to that old chestnut about renewables endangering security of supply. Elsewhere, the price of lithium – and the products it goes into – could go either way after tanking this year.

The Spanish utility said it is now ready to connect the Nunez de Balboa project to the grid. The facility is expected to start generating electricity at some point in the first quarter of 2020.

Battery innovations started to come thick and fast this quarter as the hunt for alternatives to lithium-ion intensified and the latest slew of solar tenders indicated the relentless pressure on solar power generation costs was showing no sign of abating.