Solar Power

The government has ramped up its budget for the rebate scheme to €10 million.

Developer 7C Solarparken has deployed a 729 kW floating system on a lake near Salzwedel. Power trader Next Kraftwerke will integrate power generated at the site into its virtual power plant.

A new report by Instytut Energetyki Odnawialnej shows how Poland will deploy more large-scale PV. Growth is expected to be high in the 2021-22 period, with new capacity additions set to hit 2.8 GW.

The country installed 10 MW more solar in the first three months of the year than it did in the same period a year earlier. Its cumulative capacity surpassed 21 GW by the end of March.

The maximum size of eligible projects has been increased from 20 MW to 50 MW. The Hungarian government aims to contract around 390 GWh of generating capacity per year, with 40h GW to be reserved for the Small PVPP category, including installations between 300 kW and 1 MW in size. It will set aside 350 GWh for the Large PVPP group, which includes projects ranging in size from 1 MW to 50 MW.

The 15 to 20-year power purchase agreement is expected to provide around 2% of the electricity consumption of all SNCF passenger trains.

Launched in July 2019, the procurement exercise has seen final bids ranging from TND millimes 125.3922 ($0.0444)/kWh to TND millimes 129.9736/kWh for projects ranging from 1 MW to 10 MW. The tender lot for projects of 1 MW, final bids are between TND millimes 189.500 ($0.0671)/kWh to TND millimes 213.500/kWh

Swedish researchers have proposed the installation of rotating and revolving PV arrays on the cooling towers of thermal power plants. While such projects are ideal in nations with limited land, installation costs are also cheaper than for ground-mounted or rooftop PV plants due to proximity to the grid, the scientists claim.

The Chinese government is planning to phase out FITs and subsidies for all kinds of PV installation by the end of this year, according to the China Photovoltaic Industry Association. The trade body, however, expects strong recovery for domestic solar demand over the next five years, beginning in the second half of 2020.

A German research team has developed a new photovoltaic-electrochemical device for alkaline water electrolysis. The prototype has an initial solar‐to‐hydrogen efficiency of approximately 7.7%.