United Kingdom

ESB and Oersted UK independently announced this week they have acquired storage assets to deliver ancillary services to the UK grid operator.

European markets: Growth in solar installations returned to European shores in 2017, with some of the usual suspects posting big numbers, and several new players awakening to the possibilities of PV. Here, pv magazine provides an overview of the latest movements on the continent.

Researchers from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and Oxford PV have presented a new record perovskite tandem solar cell, with a 25.2% conversion efficiency, independently verified by Fraunhofer ISE. Bernd Stannowski, from HZB presented the results this week at the World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC-7) in Hawaii.

Citing the need for ancillary grid services, due to increasing amounts of variable renewable energy assets being installed in the U.K., the two comapnies are stressing the stability this project will bring to the country’s grid.

Subsidy-free solar PV plants have generated buzz in the UK, with some plants commissioned and others planned to be developed outside of any public remuneration scheme. pv magazine explores whether the UK solar industry is ready to embrace the trend in bulk soon.

The company was adamant that it will not exit the Indian PV market, after rumors last October suggested that the company will sell its PV assets in India. Now, the company reiterates its commitment and stresses that additional funding will be used to develop new assets.

Business minister Greg Clark admitted in parliament yesterday the Conservative government is considering plowing billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money into the proposed Wylfa Newydd nuclear project in north Wales.

Despite a remarkable cumulative PV capacity of over 12.8 GW, newly registered PV systems in the first four months of this year amounted to a disappointing 72 MW. The U.K. Solar Trade Association does not expect the current poor growth trend to improve unless the government provides more regulatory certainty.

British developer Elgin Energy has received approval from the Scottish government for a scheme it says will be Scotland’s largest solar plant. The site for the project is a former RAF airfield near the town of Elgin, in northern Scotland

British oil giant BP has announced a $20 million investment into battery developer Storedot, whose batteries use chemically synthesized organic molecules to build an organic polymer, in addition to lithium. Storedot says the astonishing properties of the new material enable electric vehicle charging times of just five minutes