Sweden

CIGS thin-film production equipment company Midsummer posted record orders in 2018. With a U.S. partner, the company noted uptake was partly due to Californian requirements to integrate PV into all new (low-rise) buildings from next year.

A research team from Sweden has developed a new iron-based molecule, which it says has the potential for further cost reductions in solar cells, and can also function as a photocatalyst to produce fuel.

Upon completion, the long-term storage benefits of compressed hydrogen, coupled with an abundance of solar radiation in the summer months, will allow for a fully energy-sufficient 172 home apartment block in Sweden.

Sweden based CIGS equipment supplier Midsummer has received an order worth more than $7 million for its production equipment. The order was placed by U.S. based manufacturer Sunflare, for a new factory under construction in China.

A new report suggests that better guarantee mechanisms and securities could unlock more investments from Scandinavia for renewable energy projects in developing countries. Overall, however, it finds that Norway, Sweden and Denmark have comprehensive mechanisms in place for bringing together industry and public support schemes.

Although provisional statistics indicated the country had 230 MW of PV capacity at the end of last year, a new report reveals solar growth in 2017 was larger than expected – at 117.6 MW – and that cumulative installed capacity surpassed 300 MW.

Chinese EV maker BYD passes the 600-sales mark in Europe with a deal – announced at the International Motor Show – which also takes it past 100 sales in Scandinavia, and more than 35,000 worldwide.

The 5.5 MW facility was built by power company Göteborg Energi. The solar plant, in Säve, near Gothenburg, is intended to increase the utility’s generation capacity from renewable sources.

The company’s Dutch unit, Nuon, has agreed to acquire three solar projects totaling 27.5 MW of capacity from Powerfield. The projects will be developed under the Netherlands’ SDE+ program, for large scale renewables.

Saltwater batteries can be fully recycled receiving a “cradle to cradle” certificate, and don’t contain lead or lithium. For some, this prevails over the disadvantages of saltwater batteries being considerably bigger and heavier, as well as having a lower discharging current than lithium-ion batteries.