Europe entering golden age for PPAs, says Pexapark
Pexapark reported the signing of 23 new power purchase agreements (PPAs) in March, with a combined capacity of approximately 2 GW. In the first quarter, developers announced nearly 70 PPAs, totaling 6 GW.
Puerto Rico ranks seventh in US rankings for residential solar per capita
Luma Energy supports more than 54,000 customer connections in its 21 months as grid operator.
Taiwan’s largest solar plant goes online
Vena Energy says it has commissioned the largest PV project in Taiwan. It says its 272 MW E2 Solar Project will account for 4% of the island’s annual solar output.
Bosch to open heat pump factory in Poland
Bosch has announced plans to build its first heat pump factory in Dobromierz, Poland. The German heating manufacturer will invest €225 million ($247.3 million) in the new facility, which is expected to start operations in early 2026.
The Hydrogen Stream: Green hydrogen generation on the Baltic Sea
Salzgitter Flachstahl says it will produce hydrogen with green electricity from a wind power plant under construction by Iberdrola in the Baltic Sea. German Minister of Economics Robert Habeck, meanwhile, has announced funding for the Salzgitter Low CO2 Steelmaking transformation program.
Novel technique to recover 100% of silver from CIGS solar cells
Swedish researchers have developed a method to recycle valuable metals from flexible thin film copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) solar cells under mild leaching conditions. They showed that 100% of silver and 85% of indium can be recovered after 24 hours of leaching at room temperature using two moles of nitric acid.
LevelTen’s European solar PPA index fell to €73.2/MWh in Q1
US energy consultancy LevelTen Energy said in a recent report on solar and wind power purchase agreements in Europe that the prices of wind and solar power purchase agreements (PPAs) in the European markets increased by 56% year-on-year to reach €88.88 ($97.40)/MWh in the first quarter of this year.
Austria accepts 100,000 applications in solar rebate scheme
Around 90,000 of the accepted applications in the latest round of Austria’s rebate scheme came from homeowners, and approximately 30,000 include the installation of battery storage.
Brazil hits 20 GW of distributed solar capacity
Brazil’s distributed-generation solar capacity has hit 20.186 GW, with more than 10.204 GW of residential rooftop installations.
PV-powered robotic lawn mower from New Zealand
Researchers from Massey University in New Zealand have developed a robotic lawn mower with three 50 W solar panels and a 20 Ah lithium-iron-phosphate (LiFePO4) battery. Two of the PV panels can be retracted and stacked inside the robot. They slide out when it needs to recharge its batteries.
