Sweden

A Swedish research group has found that using deep machine learning to identify solar energy systems in aerial images may not be so accurate in non-densely populated countries such as Sweden. They have also found, however, that this technique may be trained via an iterative process and achieve satisfying results.

New research shows the importance of calculating the effects of shading created by PV panels on the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) at the ground level, which is crucial to assessing crop yield in agrivoltaic projects. The proposed modeling considers different agrivoltaic project typologies across several sites in Europe.

The model utilizes deep learning and image processing techniques and is said to offer “superior performance.” In the future, it might be able to differ between panels of PV and solar thermal systems.

With the rapid growth in electric vehicle (EV) demand bringing fears of a mountain of EV battery waste piling up further down the line, the EU-Swiss government-funded Recirculate program is planning how to keep batteries in use for much longer before they head to recyclers.

A Finnish-Swedish consortium has designed a hybrid system that uses photovoltaics and solar thermal energy separately to provide steam to industrial facilities. The PV unit is coupled to a sand-based thermal storage system and reportedly contributes to lower the levelized cost of energy of the entire system.

Norsun and Midsummer have both secured financing to support their capacity expansion plans. Norway’s Norsun plans to raise its polysilicon capacity to 3 GW and Midsummer wants to build a 200 MW module facility in Sweden.

Oxford nanoSystems (OnS) has started working with electrolyzer manufacturers to test and scale up hydrogen production.

Alight says it has obtained a 12-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for a 64 MW solar plant in Sweden. It says it will turn to non-recourse project financing, despite the conventional practice of financing PPA-backed solar assets with equity in the country.

Vargas, Northvolt’s parent company, has launched Aira, a new business venture that will sell heat pumps on a monthly fee basis. The venture is in the pilot phase in Italy and will expand to Germany and the United Kingdom later this year. It plans to start production in 2024 at a factory in Wroclaw, Poland.

The Gothenburg district court in Sweden has charged eight people for allegedly stealing nearly $416,000 of air source heat pumps, geothermal heat pumps, white goods and tools from multiple locations in the western part of the country.