March 2022

Members of the European Parliament accused Mairead McGuinness and the EU executive of insulting their institution by reversing their vote not to include nuclear in the sustainable investment taxonomy. The commissioner said the divisive energy sources will be needed to keep the lights on.

Through a strategic partnership, the two companies want to equip 1.5 million buildings in Europe with photovoltaics, storage systems, recharging solutions for electric vehicles, and heat pumps by 2030.

The Chinese module manufacturer saw its sales and turnover increase significantly in the past financial year. The company said it is benefiting from increasing demand for n-type products worldwide, and also for distributed generation systems, with which higher returns can be achieved.

The G-2X Mono series solar modules boast a reported front and back power conversion efficiency of up to 25.72%.

The PowerPark carport is equipped with 5.6kW of monocrystalline modules and one or more WallBox charging stations for hybrid or electric vehicles. French company Aterno is selling the system, starting from €19,900 – excluding VAT – depending on the project configuration.

The Haringvliet energy park consists of a 38MW solar facility a 22MW wind power complex and 12 battery containers. The three systems share the same grid connection.

Developed by researchers in Spain, the battery uses renewable electricity to melt low-cost metals such as silicon or ferrosilicon alloys to produce and store latent heat, which is in turn used by a thermophovoltaic generator to produce power. According to its creators, the device may store electricity at a cost of €10 per kilowatt-hour for a 10MWh system.

Canadian company First Quantum Minerals will commission 430MW of photovoltaic and wind generation capacity from Total Eren and renewables-for-African-mining specialist Chariot Transitional Power.

A US-German research group has used above-bandgap light to improve ion mobility in ceramic materials used in lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells. It found that the grain boundary conductance of gadolinium-doped cerium oxide, which is a ceramic used as a solid-state electrolyte in fuel cells, can be improved by a factor of approximately 3.5 at 250 degrees Celsius, by applying the proposed light technique.

Korean beauty products supplier Amorepacific has agreed to buy electricity from 5MW of renewables operated by LNG provider SK E&S. The 20-year deal is South Korea’s first step into unsubsidized renewable energy development.