Western Europe

French company Sirea has installed one of its energy management systems on a rooftop PV plant that is connected to an air conditioning system at a school on Reunion island. The system can help manage four real-time measurement points: photovoltaic production, withdrawal and injection into the distribution network, consumption of cooling units, and building consumption.

Wafer manufacturer Nexwafe is currently trying to commercialize its highly efficient monocrystalline wafer technology.

A German research team has created a new solar cell architecture with self-assembled, three-dimensional nanocomposite thin film. The special cell configuration purportedly improves electrical output by a factor of five.

The French energy business said PV made up 21% of the 3 GW of new renewables generation capacity it installed last year, with the majority of its total new clean power facilities arriving in North America.

The success of unsubsidized clean power facilities in the country – whether driven by corporate power purchase agreements or selling direct to the wholesale electricity market – has prompted the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to ponder whether contracts-for-difference payments will be fit for purpose in the years ahead.

An international research team has presented challenges and knowledge gaps in the implementation of large scale underground storage of hydrogen. The main issues associated with this technology relate to the fluid flow behavior of hydrogen in subsurface reservoirs, geochemical reactions caused by hydrogen injection, biotic reactions caused by excess hydrogen, and the geomechanical response of the subsurface to hydrogen storage.

The system generates electricity and heat for residential houses and small businesses. An integrated energy management system should guarantee maximum self-consumption of the solar power produced.

The French energy company will build the facility on the water reservoir of the Lazer hydroelectric plant, to double its production. Construction is expected to require 13 months.

Ampyr Solar Europe, a new joint venture between Naga Solar, the AGP Group, and Hartree Partners, will develop ground-mounted photovoltaic projects in the three European countries. The solar parks will be financed through power purchase agreements with energy suppliers and businesses.

Researchers in the Netherlands say the lack of a universal standard is preventing luminescent solar concentrators from being widely adopted as photonic devices or for improvement of PV module performance. This technology can be integrated with finished solar panels with no need of modifying their electronic structure, helping them collect high-energy photons that they fail to harvest.