Germany may install 150,000 residential batteries this year
German market research company EUDP Research expects 85% of the new storage systems will be used in new PV systems and 15% in existing installations.
Spain may host 2 GWh of liquid air storage
Highview Power plans to develop up to seven projects with a capacity of 50 MW / 300 MWh each in Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla y León and the Canary Islands thanks to an estimated investment of $1 billion.
Optimization model to combine residential PV with hybrid hydrogen storage
German scientists have outlined a model to combine hydrogen storage with conventional battery storage in high-efficient energy buildings powered uniquely by photovoltaics. In the proposed configuration, the DC power of the PV system is connected directly to the hybrid hydrogen system, a lithium-ion battery, an electric water heater, and an inverter, which in turn would provide AC current to the household and a heat pump.
French gas supplier enters solar business
France’s Butagaz has become the largest shareholder of French rooftop PV installers Soltea and Solewa.
Beekeeping at existing solar parks in France
Engie Green has joined forces with the associations France Nature Environnement and Apicluster to install beehives at several of its solar PV parks in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d´Azur region, in southern France.
Solar-plus-storage to produce hydrogen from seawater
Spanish PV project developer Gransolar is planning to build a large-scale green hydrogen production plant in the Port of Almería, in southern Spain.
Growing interest for PV arrays with eastern and western orientation in Germany
A report from Fraunhofer ISE reveals that the share of PV systems with southern orientation has decreased from 61% in 2000 to 42% in 2019. It also highlights that solar rooftop installations with a tilted angle lower than 20 degrees have increased from just 5% in 2000 to 24% in 2019.
Concrete battery for applications in buildings, rooftop PV
A prototype of a cement-based battery has been developed in Sweden for potential applications in buildings. Its creators claim it could become a solution to store electricity from rooftop PV and they do not exclude that it could also be used for the storage of large-scale renewables.
PHV opens factory in Saudi Arabia
The new manufacturing facility will be operated by the newly created unit PV Hardware Middle East. It will produce trackers, mounting structures, and cleaning robots for the Saudi solar market.
Second-life batteries turned into storage system with capacity of up to 1 MWh
Power ESS is a new storage system made from second-life lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles and has been proposed by Spanish manufacturer Beeplanet as a solution for the commercial and industrial, primary, and construction sectors.
