Western Europe

The Hellenic Association of Photovoltaic Energy Producers (Spef) is pushing the Greek government to stop issuing new grid connection licenses for renewable energy systems to address the nation’s escalating power curtailment issue.

Meyer Burger CEO Gunter Erfurt has resigned, with Franz Richter named as his successor. CFO Markus Nikles is also stepping down as part of the company’s restructuring, which includes job cuts, particularly in Europe.

Italian winemaker Svolta Srl has deployed an agrivoltaic facility at its vineyard in Apulia, Italy. The PV array allowed the cultivation of vines that are normally not viable at this latitude.

Germany’s new solar installations surged to 790 MW in August, contributing to 10.23 GW of newly installed PV capacity for the first eight months of this year.

Carbon, a French PV module maker, has revealed plans to acquire panel manufacturer Photowatt, which is a unit of French energy giant EDF.

Researchers have measured the power loss of a 50 W panel stationed in a 30-meter wave tank. Based on ten different scenarios, they were able to draw an empirical equation for the prediction of power loss, with the highest loss being measured at 12.7%.

Ballard Power Systems says it has started restructuring its global operations to cut costs due to slower hydrogen infrastructure development and delayed fuel cell adoption.

German fluid management company Lutz-Jesco introduced a system aimed at supporting pumping and water disinfection in cases of blackouts. The hub is preconfigured to work with solar panels, a battery charge controller, an inverter, and cabling.

An international research team has investigated how thermoelectric subcooling may be integrated into propane heat pumps to reduce power consumption in the vapor compression system. Their work showed this combination can not only reduce electricity consumption but also significantly improve heat pump performance.

Paxos Solar has developed a new glass-glass PV tile that integrates with heat pumps, featuring Longi’s back-contact solar cells. The 44 W, 59.5 cm x 48 cm tile can also produce heat for residential systems.