Western Europe

The former Spanish industry minister, José Manuel Soria, has become the president of Island Green Power España SL, the Spanish unit of U.K.-based developer of large photovoltaic plants, Island Green Power.

We Drive Solar and Hyundai are planning to set up a network of 500 bi-directional EV recharging stations in the city and region of Utrecht. Through this technology, electric cars may contribute to the storage of renewable energy in a country affected by grid constraints.

Sunowe’s trial over allegations of PV module smuggling is expected to resume on May 4. The company has been accused of not paying €20 million in anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs.

Scientists in the UK used the latest imaging techniques to visualize and understand the process of dendrite formation and electrolyte cracking in an all solid-state battery. With new insight into the mechanisms by which these cracks form and ultimately lead to battery failure, the results could help direct the focus of future research into solid-state battery technology.

The funds will be part of the EU Covid-19 recovery package. Overall, the Italian government expects to deploy 2 GW of agrivoltaics and 2 GW through energy communities.

Austrian heat and PV specialist my-PV is proposing a new solution to use surplus PV electricity for thermal concrete-core activation in commercial buildings.

Germany is currently seeing cool, sunny weather, which is ideal for PV power generation. According to Energy Charts, the photovoltaic systems installed in the country have cracked the 40 GW mark for the first time.

Researchers in Germany claim to have overcome the main challenge for the development of large-area perovskite PV modules – scaling up from the cell to the module level. They achieved an efficiency of up to 16.6% on a module surface of ​​more than 50 centimeters squared, and 18% on a module with an area of 4 centimeters squared.

The solar module will be available in three versions – white, black, and glass-glass. The products have an output of up to 400 W, but when the bifacial effect is optimally used, the output of the glass-glass module can reach up to 430 W. Both the white and black modules weigh less than 20 kg

Scientists in South Korea and the UK demonstrated a new cathode material for an aluminum-ion battery, which achieved impressive results in both specific capacity and cycle life. The material allows researchers to better take advantage of aluminum’s energy storage characteristics, and produce batteries with much higher capacity.