Western Europe

Portugal-based Solaris Float has developed a swiveling floating solar platform with one- or two-axis tracking. It has installed its first project on a lake in the Netherlands. The project consists of 130 PV modules on a single-axis tracker, with an installed capacity of 50.7 kW.

Technische Universität Dresden researchers have designed new solar cells based on phase heterojunctions. They used two perovskite polymorphs to build a novel PV device with an efficiency of 20.1% and a fill factor of 84.17%.

An international research group has developed new technology to measure soiling losses in PV installations, by using a simple pocket light. They said the new system offers similar performance to their reference devices.

Swiss utility Axpo has built a PV system inside the dish of a disused satellite run by data-center operator Leuk TDC. Satellite dishes can be used to produce solar power, as they can be flexibly aligned to the sun.

Germany’s BayWa r.e. and Denmark’s Velux have announced the first agrivoltaic corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) in Europe. BayWa will build two solar parks in Spain to power Velux’s operations, with capacities of 60 MWp and 56 MWp. One of them will partly be an agricultural PV project.

GKN Aerospace has demonstrated the feasibility of using a liquid hydrogen fuel source to increase the endurance of uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) for search and rescue. Germany, meanwhile, has announced €550 million ($572 million) of fresh funding for hydrogen projects across the world.

India is the top market for solar investment, according to the latest edition of Ernst & Young’s renewables attractiveness index. Spain, Germany and the United States are the top three markets for corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs).

The latest edition of Key Energy, Italy’s top solar event, shows that the nation is once again poised for growth. It also shows that incentive schemes can turn agrivoltaics and large-scale storage into market drivers like rooftop and ground-mounted PV.

Dansk Solenergi, a Danish building-integrated PV specialist, has launched a round, 95 W solar module that works as a PV signboard. Its 35 solar cells, which remain hidden behind an image of Earth, have an efficiency of 18.5%.

Hyme Energy and Bornholms Energi & Forsyning are building a pilot project to store clean electricity with molten salt. The system will likely start providing heat, power and ancillary services by 2024.