E.ON

A flurry of clean energy announcements in the European Union this year bodes well for the expansion of renewables but there will be a race against time to get key legislation adopted before next summer’s European elections.

PV deployment is gathering pace in the EU member state but grid capacity shortfalls and unpredictable shifts in government policy need to be addressed if the nation is to harness its full solar – and European energy security – potential.

Russia’s ongoing assault on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, with missile and drone strikes, has seen the country’s power cut by nearly one-third, triggering widespread outages across the nation. With winter coming, the Ukrainian authorities haven’t ruled out a worst-case scenario that would see much of Kyiv, with its population of almost 3 million, evacuated from the city, reports Ian Skarytovsky.

An assessment of the human rights performance of the world’s leading solar and wind power companies has painted a grim state of affairs, with the only dedicated solar manufacturer analyzed scoring 7%.

Researchers have studied the potential of using compressed air to store renewable energy in offshore saline aquifers. The technology could hold 77-96 TWh for up to two months in British waters, although the costs have proven hard to pin down.

The energy transition is becoming ever more apparent among power companies, as was evident at the European Utility Week event last week in Paris, which showcased the hopes and fears of energy companies. Rebranding next year to ‘Enlit’, the organizers aim to reach the whole energy industry.

It took a while, but now the energy giants can finalize the mega deal. Rival energy companies have criticized approval of the deal amid fears Eon could dominate the German market.

The 3.3 million U.K. households that get their electricity from E.on will receive only renewable energy. The company referred to a public opinion poll as a motivation for the move.

The service, costing €2 per month, is for residential customers that use PV products provided by the power company. The system is provided by E.ON group – a shareholder in the Slovak utility – and has already been launched in Germany, Czechia and Italy.

The planned acquisition of RWE subsidiary Innogy’s sales and network business, would make E.on the largest electricity supplier to two-thirds of Germany with a 70% market share in its distribution network. That is the finding of analysis conducted by consulting firm LBD on behalf of rival power firm Lichtblick.