Western Europe

Germany’s latest auction for utility-scale solar concluded with prices ranging from €0.0444 ($0.048)/kWh to €0.0547/kWh. The procurement exercise was significantly oversubscribed.

An international team of researchers used large-area perovskite films treated with liquid crystals additives to make photovoltaic modules with a certified stabilized efficiency of 21.1% at an aperture area of 31 cm2.  

Dutch startup LionVolt has acquired AMTE Power’s battery cell production line in Scotland. It says it will use the assets for pilot production of its 3D solid-state thin-film batteries.

Reel, a spinoff of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), has raised €5 million ($5.4 million) of seed capital to enhance its products and expand internationally. It is offering customized fixed price contracts to businesses based on solar and wind power purchase agreements (PPAs).

Researchers in Spain have developed a new system that simultaneously produces PV power and disinfects wastewater.

Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) announced today that it had produced at 421 W perovskite-silicon tandem glass-glass module measures 1.68 m2. The module was assembled by Frauhofer ISE using perovskite-tandem cells from UK-based manufacturer Oxford PV. The researchers used commercially available PV production equipment to fabricate the panel.

Baker Hughes has revealed plans for hydrogen projects in Europe and North America, on top of new announcements from Masdar, Air Liquide and TotalEnergies.

Once operational, the Great North Road Solar Park in Nottinghamshire, England, could meet the power needs of around 400,000 homes. A spokesperson for the project’s design team has told pv magazine that the installation site is currently owned by private landowners, but the acquisition process is set to be completed shortly.

While the world noted the Dubai aim of tripling renewables generation capacity by 2030, the controversial summit also saw 25 nations commit to an unofficial pledge to triple nuclear capacity by 2050.

An international research team has identified parameters to integrate PV cells into unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).