Western Europe

Conducted by Italian scienitists, the analysis includes standards such as IEC 61727, the US EREC G83/2 Recommendations, Germany’s VDE-AR-N 4105, China’s GB/T 19964-2012 and GB/T 20,046, Italy’s CEI 0-21, Australia’s AS 4777.2, and New Zealand’s AS 4777.2 standards, as well as the United States’ IEEE 1547. 

Hering Group, a centuries-old German construction and engineering company, says it has acquired the PV manufacturing facilities of organic solar film developer Asca, based in Kitzingen, Germany. The previous owners of the facilities describe Asca as a “largely loss-making” venture lacking in sales.

OeMAG, an Austrian government-run agency, has allocated incentives for solar and storage across 121,000 contracts this year. Their number was significantly lower in 2022.

Technaxx, a company based in the German state of Hessen, says that its new Technaxx 4G Wildcam includes a 5 W monocrystalline silicon solar panel and network module.

Mondragon Assembly has provided French company Reden Solar with a 400 MW production line. Operations are scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2024.

An international team of scientists has assessed different strategies for volume-based and fixed-amount subsidy auctions for large-scale wind and solar projects. They have found that higher subsidy levels in auctions lead to lower final prices.

Solyco, a PV system specialist, has deployed a 12.64 kW vertical PV rooftop system made with glass-glass bifacial tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) modules in Hannover, Germany. It also installed a 10 kW vertical array in Hamburg.

Scientists in Germany conceived a solar-powered energy storage system that can reportedly achieve the high voltage levels required for applications in Internet of Things environments. The system combines a multi-junction organic solar cell with a dual-ion organic battery.

Italian energy group Enel says it is scrapping its plans to build a hydrogen project in La Spezia, Italy, despite €13.72 million ($14.7 million) in European subsidies, while Toyota has introduced its new Crown Sedan fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) in Japan.

The “Folie40” project involves backsheet makers, solar module manufacturers, and research institutions such as Folienwerk Wolfen, Meyer Burger, Aluminum Féron, Fraunhofer ISE, and the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences.