Western Europe

The Portuguese government has approved exceptional measures to simplify renewable energy production. The new provisions include the exemption of operating licenses and operating certificates for renewable energy facilities, battery storage, and projects for self-consumption.

Created by a Dutch group of companies and research institutions, the mobile solar system may also be combined with an electrolyzer for hydrogen generation. Two prototypes are currently being tested by a farmer and a research institute in the Netherlands.

The Spanish authorities applied solar curtailment for the first time on Easter Sunday, when power generation exceeded demand and the wholesale electricity price went from €168.50 ($182)/MWh to just €3.70/MWh.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems is assessing how a solar-powered heat pump system that uses waste heat from a distillery at a low-temperature level could be used to provide district heating. Waste heat is injected into an ice storage tank, to which heat pumps are connected on the source side.

An international research group has developed a perovskite solar panel on a 192 square-centimeter surface. The researchers claim the panel has one of the highest efficiencies reported at this size to date.

The European Court of Justice has told Solar Ileias Bompaina that it must pay the costs of both parties in a seven-year dispute stemming from the former Greek government’s move to reduce solar feed-in tariffs and claw back historic payments.

Australia’s Macquarie is leading a consortium that has reportedly tabled a €2.5 billion ($2.7 billion) bid for a clean energy business formed by French private equity houses InfraVia and Eurazeo.

Salzgitter has claimed a record efficiency level for its EU-funded GrInHy2.0 hydrogen project, which is based on solid oxide electrolysis cell tech. The high-temperature electrolyzer uses waste heat from the company’s steel production processes.

Researchers in Germany have built a perovskite-organic solar cell with low interfacial losses and a high open-circuit voltage. The device achieved an open-circuit voltage of 2.15 V, a short-circuit current of 14.0 mA cm−², and a fill factor of 80%.

Energy Dome’s emission-free energy storage method uses carbon dioxide in a closed loop charge/discharge cycle that can store and dispatch renewable energy onto the grid over periods from four to 24 hours.