Europe

Investors are afraid of solar energy right now, but the long-term prospects of the industry are improving.

Sun Exchange powers solar projects at schools such as Sacred Heart College in Johannesburg

Chinese state-owned PV manufacturer Jetion Solar says it has signed a deal with Italian government-owned oil and gas major Eni to develop a slew of new solar projects across five regions in the next three years in a deal worth €2 billion.

The Spanish company plans to develop 66 solar and wind parks that will add 3 GW of renewable energy generation capacity in 50 municipalities near Teruel, Navarre over the next four years. Some 34 facilities will be solar plants that will add 1.3 GW as part of an investment of more than €2.4 billion.

Scientists led by the Technical University of Denmark have begun a project to design solar cells that can be produced in different colors with minimal effect on performance, making them suitable for building-integrated and other applications with aesthetic considerations.

In August alone, around 327 MW of new solar generation capacity was registered in the country. This month the FIT for solar systems up to 750 kW in size will fall another 1.4%.

Scientists from NUST MISIS (Russia) and University of Rome Tor Vergata found out that a microscopic quantity of two-dimensional titanium carbide called MXene significantly improves collection of electrical charges in a perovskite solar cell, increasing the final efficiency above 20%. The results of the research were published in Nature Materials on September 9, 2019.

Ciel & Terre recently announced the launching of a new utility-scale 750 kWp floating solar array in Renchen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Utilizing more than 2,300 solar panels, it is predicted the solar power plant will generate 736 MWh per year.

The Swiss Federal Council intends to increase competition in the solar sector and set fixed tariffs for large PV projects using tenders. The electricity market will be fully opened up in a move industry association Swissolar says will discriminate against PV and threaten the rapid expansion of renewables.

Hanwha Q Cells officially opened its 300,000 square foot solar panel factory in Dalton, Georgia last week, claiming it is the largest such manufacturing facility in the western hemisphere.

MIT engineers have combined RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags with thin-film perovskite solar cells to create energy-harvesting IoT sensors.

The exercise, conducted on Longi PERC bifacial modules by Germany’s TÜV SÜD at a test field in China, showed surprisingly higher gains in panels getting light reflection from painted-surface and grassland albedo. It also showed, Longi claimed, bifacial panels operate at lower temperatures than single-sided alternatives.

The devices, developed by a European research team, are said to have twice the energy density of conventional aluminum devices. The scientists used a cathode made of anthraquinone, instead of one based on graphene, increasing energy density.

Jetion Solar and Risen Energy have made the latest in a fast-growing series of moves by Chinese operators to service reviving European markets, aided by last year’s scrapping of EU tariffs.

Solar power installations out in the open are a common sight in many parts of the world, but how about household solar generators? A team of Swedish and Chinese scientists recently reported this might become part of our future after they successfully converted indoor light to electricity using organic photovoltaic cells.