United Kingdom

Recent data published by Great Britain’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) show the country’s solar PV cumulative capacity was 15,292.8 MW at the end of July, with newly installed capacity for the first seven months of this year reaching 643 MW. Although Gareth Simkins of Solar Energy UK said these figures were ‘relatively low’, he explained that several utility scale PV plants may have not been included in the statistics so far and there was cause for optimism.

EDF Renewables UK and Ireland, a unit of French energy giant EDF, has acquired UK solar installer SAS Energy. It says the acquisition will facilitate new projects in the solar, electric vehicle, and battery storage sectors.

UK roofing specialist SIG Building Solutions is offering the solar carport solution in three different versions. The largest structure is designed to give maximum power for east-west facing double row car parking layouts.

Gas Recovery and Recycle Ltd. (GR2L) has revealed plans to supply its ArgonØ machinery for 2 GW of solar capacity in India. Its ArgonØ tech can recycle up to 95% of the argon used in the fabrication of silicon wafers for solar panels.

Octopus Energy has developed new residential heat pumps, with plans to initially market a 6 kW version, followed by larger models in the near future. The UK-based company makes the heat pumps at its facility in Craigavon, Northern Ireland.

A British research group has aggregated information from seven field studies on heat pumps from around the world and has found air-source devices have an average coefficient of performance (COP) of 2.74 when temperatures are above −10 C. Below that, COP is between 1.5 and 2.

Worcester Bosch’s new residential heat pumps are available in several versions, with output ranging from 4 kW to 30 KW. It says the new products can be cascaded up to six units.

The UK government has announced the results of its latest renewable energy auction, originally planned for 2022. It was accessible to installations exceeding 5 MW in size, with 56 solar projects securing 15-year contracts-for-difference (CfDs).

Called Geospatial Opportunity Mapping (GOMap), the new tool considers high-resolution information from both the local authorities and local utility companies. It is reportedly able to determine the number of rooftop or ground-mounted solar projects that can be deployed in a given area.

Italy’s Prysmian has finalized the deployment of a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) submarine transmission line spanning 1,400 km, connecting Denmark to the United Kingdom.