Western Europe

The Dutch government’s new open-access PV database is divided by municipality and region. It offers a complete overview of all available spaces for rooftop PV and solar carports across the Netherlands.

Enerpoly, a Swedish startup that produces zinc-ion battery storage systems with durations of two to 10 hours, plans to scale production up to 100 MWh per year by 2026.

SMA Solar Technology AG says it will open a new 3.5 GW inverter factory at an unspecified location in the United States in 2025. The German manufacturer is currently talking with several US states and potential partners to select the best production site.

The researchers said that an increment in heating demand due to the use of heat pumps can be accurately predicted based on heating hours, local climate, heat loss and thermal mass. They also recommended including heat loss and thermal mass parameters in buildings’ energy performance certificates, so households can make more informed decisions before changing their system.

Dutch solar PV manufacturer Solarge is deploying a novel lightweight rooftop solution across several commercial buildings in the Netherlands. Instead of glass, the special modules developed by the company use strong and light polymers, which the company said result in a module weight per square meter of 5.5 kg.

Researchers from Spain have developed a method to estimate the critical speed a tracker can withstand. They found “good agreement” when comparing the model to experimental results.

GM and Autocar Industries have agreed to jointly develop hydrogen-powered heavy-duty vehicles using GM’s Hydrotec power cubes, while European lawmakers have reached a provisional agreement on common market rules for renewable gases and hydrogen.

France-based Heliocity has developed HelioFlash, a series of artificial intelligence algorithms that assess PV systems on buildings, while offering recommendations to improve operations.

Nexol says its new boilers use a special controller to facilitate the management of special heating elements. It recommends the use of a storage tank with a volume of up to 300 liters.

The Portuguese government is seeking proposals for a €45 million ($48.4 million) floating PV project.