Western Europe

The interactive map gives solar and wind project developers, as well as regional grid operators direct insight into where and how much capacity is available at Tennet’s high-voltage stations.

The government of Spain’s Navarra region has approved a 160 MW solar project planned by the local renewable energy association Anpier. The plant is to be deployed on the Canal of Navarra, which is one of the country’s largest artificial irrigation canals.

The German research institute has compared the CO2 emissions of glass-glass and glass-backsheet solar modules manufactured in Germany, the EU and China, and found glass-glass modules enable an additional emissions reduction ranging between 7.5 to 12.5% compared to PV modules with backsheet film, regardless of the location.

Prosolia has confirmed to pv magazine that the project will be built in Santiago do Cacém, about 200 kilometers south of Lisbon. The plant will employ Tesla batteries.

German manufacturer Solarwatt today announced the opening of a new 300 MW module production facility, as well as new battery pack assembly lines, located on the outskirts of Dresden. The company invested around €35 million in the new lines and says it will begin delivering modules produced on the new equipment to customers as early as next week.

The German solar manufacturer has unveiled three new formats for its glass-film and glass-glass PV modules for the first quarter of 2022.

Greek startup Tobea has developed a PV-powered platform for people with disabilities. The system consists of a fixed-track mechanism in which a moving chair can be shifted in and out of the water. It can be powered by conventional modules and relies on a battery supplied by a Greek manufacturer.

Dutch company Triple Solar has launched a new PVT module for residential applications which can be connected to water-to-water or PVT heat pumps. The new panel is said to be 10% larger and have a 15% higher output than the company’s other products and can reach a PV power output of 450 W.

The German research institute has unveiled a novel interconnection technology for shingled PV modules that eliminates the need for electrically conductive adhesives and screen-printed busbars. It consists of an 8-μm-thick aluminum foil that is joined to the silicon nitride (SiNX) passivation via laser metal bond (LMB). When integrated in a solar module, the efficiency of the new interconnector improved by 0.7%.

Vattenfall is leading a Dutch consortium in a research project to assess whether agrivoltaics is also compatible with strip cropping. The company’s head of Solar Development NL, Annemarie Schouten, spoke with pv magazine about the first 0.7 MW pilot project under development in the northern Dutch province of Flevoland.