Western Europe

The Dutch consortium has achieved the record result by combining, in a four-terminal tandem configuration, an 18.6% efficient highly near-infrared transparent perovskite with a prototype of a c-Si interdigitated back contact (IBC) silicon heteroJunction (SHJ) cell developed by Japanese electronics manufacturer Panasonic. The perovskite cell was also combined with other kinds of solar cells and other remarkable record efficiencies were hit.

The feed-in tariff granted reduces each quarter, in line with how much solar capacity was installed in the previous three-month period.

Italian start-up Genius Watter has developed a solar desalination solution that is claimed to be particularly suitable for remote areas with no connection to grid electricity. The system is able to produce up to 1,000 cubic meters of potable water per day at an opex of €0.20 per cubic meter.

Oxfordshire-based Oxis Energy says it will produce the less flammable devices sought by the aviation industry using the same manufacturing processes as those used to make lithium-ion and conventional-lithium-sulfur products.

This year will witness the end of the French program for PV tenders known as “CRE4”, which began in 2016. To date, they have enabled over 7.2 GW of solar capacity to benefit from a subsidized tariff (feed-in tariff or feed-in premium). A few months before the last CRE4 tenders and the launch of the PPE2 (or CRE5), Finergreen evaluates their impact on the French solar industry.

The vertically integrated factory is expected to be located near Sevilla, in southern Spain. The factory will be owned and operated by the newly created company Greenland Gigafactory.

The database brings together photovoltaic performance data and meteorological values from PV systems located in all climate zones. It is being built by an international consortium including the Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics CSP, and the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences.

LevelTen Energy reports each quarter on the prices that wind and solar project developers have offered for power purchase agreements, and makes medium-term estimates for the most important markets. Italy and Spain have been the most active markets in the first quarter of 2021.

The court has agreed with advocate-general Henrik Saugmandsgaard Øe that Italy’s move, in 2014, to reduce solar incentive payments contained in signed agreements held by developers does not breach EU law.