Western Europe

Synhelion’s solar tower technology harnesses energy from a field of solar mirrors and concentrates it onto a receiver. The receiver converts the solar radiation into high-temperature process heat, which is then directed to a thermal chemical reactor. This reactor produces syngas, which is a mixture of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2).

German and Greek electric utilities have decided to build 280 MW of new solar capacity in Greece’s former coal region in Western Macedonia. This is in addition to solar farms the two utilities are already jointly building in the country, in pursuit of their 2 GW solar target for former Greek mines.

Enel says it will work with Italian startup Reiwa to develop a robot for waterless cleaning of PV plants. The innovative device features brushes and can autonomously navigate across panel rows, eliminating the need for human intervention.

Norwegian researchers say blue and green hydrogen could complement each other in the future, but early adoption of green hydrogen could result in increased hydrogen production and emissions.

Portugal’s Ministry of the Environment has awarded 5 GW of grid-connection permits, primarily for PV projects. These permits cover 5 GW for power plants linked to the high-voltage transmission network and an additional 1 GW for projects connected to E-Grids at lower voltage levels.

UK researchers suggested utilizing heat pumps to preheat hydrogen to very high temperatures, which they said could reduce the need for hydrogen by more than 20%. The process is also claimed to have the potential to reduce the European industry’s energy demand by approximately 200 TWh per year.

Cox Energy secured the assets of Abengoa in April 2023. Abengoa began insolvency proceedings for its main business unit in May 2022.

Germany-based Ostermeier H2ydrogen Solutions has developed a containerized solution to produce heat and hot water from hydrogen. It includes a photovoltaic inverter, a battery, a heat pump, a heat and cold buffer storage system, an electrolyzer, a compressor, and a fuel cell.

Sono Motors has equipped its first bus with its PV retrofit solution, featuring 16 semi-flexible rooftop solar modules to feed 1.4 kW of output into the vehicle’s battery system.

Ingeteam has sold its operation and maintenance (O&M) division to UK-based RES Group. It say the 35 GW renewable assets are worth €35 billion ($38.2 billion).