Western Europe

Researchers in Finland say that decentralized heat pumps could provide significant cost savings when selling surplus heat into district networks. However, they warned that capital expenditure remains high.

Switzerland’s Dhp Technology AG says it plans to deploy new retractable PV systems at 45 motorway service areas in the Swiss cantons of Valais and Bern. The foldable arrays can be retracted and protected during extreme weather conditions or hail storms.

TotalEnergies has increased its stake in Total Eren from 30% to 100%, a transaction that values the independent power producer at €3.5 billion ($3.8 billion).

Dutch scientists have developed a perovskite-PERC tandem solar cell based on a new type of tunnel recombination junction that reportedly offers an improved device efficiency distribution. The cell uses a nickel(II) oxide layer that is intended to reduce electrical shunts in the perovskite top cell.

New research shows that hybrid heat pumps combining an electric heat pump and a gas boiler represent a technically feasible and economically viable solution to partially decarbonize heat supply in older dwellings. Gas and electricity prices, however, are crucial factors in real scenarios.

Verbraucherzentrale NRW, a German consumer protection association, has issued a warning about five misleading assumptions about PV-linked residential battery systems.

Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy (ISE) has advanced vehicle-integrated PV (VIPV) technology by installing solar cells directly onto a standard sheet-metal car hood. The researchers placed a 115 W prototype array on the hood of a Volkswagen with a specialized lamination process.

A group of researchers from Italy investigated the economic competitiveness of various ground mounted and floating PV systems with regard to cost and performance, taking into consideration revenues due to reduced water evaporations. They found that the use of non-evaporated water at photovoltaic system sites can achieve revenues greater than $3/kW if used for irrigation and higher than $4/kW if sold to generate hydroelectricity.

A group of researchers in Denmark has investigated how Carnot batteries may be used to store renewable energy in their home country and have found that these devices may provide a significant contribution only under a certain cost threshold.

Although raw material costs in China are slowly stabilizing again, PV module prices continue to decline, as inventory levels remain very high.