United Kingdom

With metropolitan-borough and city councils in England and Wales already driving decarbonization initiatives, local government bodies could do so much more if given adequate powers and funding.

A team of Dutch university students under the banner Top Dutch Solar Racing has installed perovskite silicon tandem cells in its entry in the 16th edition of Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. The upcoming race is a six day, 3000 km expedition across the Australian continent, from Darwin to Adelaide.

The UK’s largest transmission system operator, UK Power Networks, recently launched an 850 MW flexible electricity tender. The company’s Distribution System Operator’s head of flexibility markets, Alex Howard, tells pv magazine that the tender will manage demand growth and help get more renewable projects in a ‘big queue’ connected to the network.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) has made a final investment decision and awarded contracts for the Hail and Ghasha offshore gas project, while Iveco and Hyundai have introduced the new Iveco Bus E-way H2 city bus.

UK researchers have developed ultra-thin nanoribbons, just 1 atom thick, by combining phosphorus and arsenic alloys. The nanoribbons offer excellent conductivity, even at temperatures exceeding -143.15 C, and have the potential to enhance charge flow in solar cells.

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.