The Hydrogen Stream: RWE commissions 100 MW hydrogen electrolyzer
RWE has started commissioning a 100 MW electrolyzer in Germany to supply renewable hydrogen under long-term contracts, while Hydrogen Utopia International and Hydrogen Systems are advancing plans to build waste-to-hydrogen plants in Saudi Arabia.
New multi‑hotspot detection tech based on Lab* feature descriptor
A Husqvarna researcher developed a fast, interpretable PV hotspot-detection method using IR thermography and Lab* color-space features instead of heavy neural networks, achieving up to 95.2% accuracy with shallow classifiers. The lightweight system works in real time on drones or edge devices and could save 17,620 kWh and 8.9 tons of CO₂ annually by improving fault detection in solar panels.
UK startup claims its electrolytes can triple flow battery energy density
A startup led by Cambridge University scientists and the former chair of Oxford PV is attempting to commercialize flow battery electrolytes with greater energy density than vanadium-based batteries. Kodiaq Technologies claims its electrolytes can be deployed as a drop-in solution for redox flow batteries.
UK study finds azimuthal trackers boost floating PV performance
A University of Exeter team has tested single-axis tracking systems for floating solar across 12 UK sites, finding azimuthal tracking delivers the largest energy gains and lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE).
UK solar on track for record CfD deployment in 2026
Total number of UK PV plants backed by contracts for difference (CfD) could more than double in 2026, if developers hit deadlines. Latest investment report from scheme contract company reveals solar holds the greatest number of contracts of any generating technology.
New digital twin for floating PV application uses artificial intelligence
Scientists have developed a floating PV digital twin system, trained on data from 155 physical experiments, using a two-tier artificial neural network (ANN) with a high-fidelity model and a reduced-order model. Predictive performance reached R2 values of 0.9996 for PV surface temperature and 0.9189 for power output.
UK research calls for robust approach to rooftop solar fire safety
Research commissioned by the UK government finds rooftop solar panels can significantly influence fire behavior, particularly when the height gap between modules and the roof surface falls below critical limits.
Growing agri-PV tomatoes while producing hydrogen for smart windows
Scientists have simulated a residential building based on a real double-story house in the United Kingdom, combining rooftop agrivoltaics with onsite hydrogen production. Electricity generated by the solar system is used to produce hydrogen, which is then supplied to a hydrogen vehicle and insulated gasochromic smart windows.
Solar to occupy no more than 0.6% of UK farmland by 2030
The UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) said in response to a recent Freedom of Information (FoI) request that even if all future solar projects under its solar roadmap were ground-mounted, they would occupy no more than 0.4% of the United Kingdom’s total land area.
Off-grid floating PV-desalination system for hydrogen production
Scientists have simulated a solar-powered hydrogen production system comprising 32,050 photovoltaic panels, a pumping system, a seawater reverse-osmosis desalination unit, an electrolyzer, and a hydrogen storage tank. Operation of the system in Oman could potentially yield a levelized cost of electricity of $0.05/kWh and a levelized cost of hydrogen of $9.5/kg.
