wind energy

Margrethe Vestager, the executive vice president of the European Commission, said this week that the EU authorities are investigating the deployment of several wind farms in Spain, Greece, France, Romania and Bulgaria.

Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN), the grid operator in Portugal, says that renewables covered 91% of national electricity demand in March. This marks the third consecutive month in which clean energy has exceeded 80% of total power demand.

Scientists in Spain have developed a tool that optimizes the joint production of wind and solar. It combines data, patterns of solar radiation, and wind speeds over time in specific parts of Europe.

French startup Unéole has developed a rooftop system that combines solar and silent wind turbines. It claims its system can produce 40% more energy than standalone rooftop solar arrays. It is now testing the device, with plans to commercialize it by 2023.

Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI) said developers have until Dec. 12 to submit bids for 1.2 GW of wind-solar-storage hybrid capacity. The projects will be developed on a build-own-operate basis, anywhere in India.

E3G and Ember said in a new study that solar and wind have helped to mitigate the impacts of drought across the European Union, amid a 21% decline in hydropower generation and a 19% reduction of available nuclear capacity. Wind and solar generated a record 24% of the bloc’s electricity from March to September.

BASF is currently testing Aeromine Technologies’ patented motionless wind-harvesting system.

Researchers in Mexico have looked at integrating hydrogen-based power-to-gas-to-power into an existing rural microgrid. They said this solution could become competitive if electrolyzer, fuel cell and hydrogen tank costs are halved, or if diesel prices keep rising.

With a new start-up and a consortium in the Netherlands, German automotive supplier Schaeffler wants to significantly reduce the costs of green hydrogen.

Another round of the so-called “cap and floor” regime is expected to be held next year and will help the U.K. reach a total electricity interconnection capacity of 16 GW by 2030. The new interconnectors will likely be intended to harness large amounts of power from big offshore wind farm clusters in the North Sea.