Europe

Politicians’ failure to form government pacts condemns Spain’s clean energy shift to further delays and uncertainty, the industry has warned as the country heads to fresh polls.

Enel Green Power has switched on a utility-scale solar project it developed in Spain’s southeast with support from the country’s renewable auction of 2017.

AleaSoft analyses fuel market prices, carbon emission rights, European electricity markets and renewable energy production. Last week most prices rose on the previous reporting period as solar and wind power production varied by country.

The €7.5 million project, built by Dutch energy provider Eneco, is intended to power operations at the Ghent factory of the Indian steel manufacturer. Arcelor’s employees were invited to participate through crowdfunding.

The La Poste Group wants one or more green corporate PPAs, to be procured through a tender. The postal service wants to hedge against volatile energy prices.

The Polish parliament has adopted new environmental provisions which also include a tax reduction for micro PV. The measure comes on top of the Mój Prąd rebate scheme for residential rooftop projects ranging in size from 2 kW to 10 kW which was launched in July.

A Swedish-Chinese research team has developed an organic cell said to be ideal for wide use in daily life to power internet of things-enabled devices. The cell could be used to power sensors that detect and measure moisture, particle concentrations, temperature and other parameters indoors.

An African Development Bank (AfDB) initiative that wants to install 10GW of solar energy across the Sahel by 2025 was endorsed by G5 Sahel heads of state at a summit held last week in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Spain’s subsidy-free solar scene has marked another boost after a power purchase agreement (PPA) was secured for a major project in the country’s centre-west.

German power major RWE has reiterated its commitment to becoming one of the world’s largest developers of solar, wind and energy storage after the European Commission green-lit its proposed asset swap with E.On.

Solar power is already taking over the land, so naturally, now it's coming for the sea. The big ol' boat in the photo above is the Silent 55 ship from Silent Yachts, a luxury solar panel boat company based in Austria. It uses silent electric propulsion to achieve unlimited range without noise, fumes, or any maintenance at all.

Credibility comes not just from offering products that generate clean electricity, but also from the way in which those products are manufactured, says SMA Solar Technology CEO Jürgen Reinert. Here, transparency and sustainability are key. That’s why one of the world’s largest PV inverter producers has partnered with pv magazine’s UP sustainability initiative. In the following Q&A, Reinert lays out what SMA is doing to step UP its green game.

Tennet needs more than €4.75 billion to invest in cross-border grid infrastructure between Germany and the Netherlands, as rising volumes of solar and wind are complicating network operations, said Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra in a recent letter to the Dutch parliament, adding that the government may need to privatize the state-owned transmission system operator or sell off a stake in it.

Germany must embrace renewables and energy storage at an unprecedented scale if it hopes to offset the void left behind by coal and nuclear phase-outs, a new study has said.

Greece has opted to slightly trim the capacity on offer at the year’s last solar-only tender, setting ceiling prices that reflect the gradual technology cost decreases seen in the country.