EU’s first hydrogen pipeline to connect Portugal, Spain, France
The leaders of Spain, Portugal and France have unveiled the H2Med energy interconnection project, which will supply Europe with hydrogen. H2Med, formerly known as BarMar, will be the first green corridor to connect the Iberian Peninsula with the rest of Europe. It will be operational in 2030.
Japan’s first offshore floating solar demonstrator
Tokyu Land and Dutch offshore PV specialist SolarDuck are set to develop a floating solar project in the Tokyo Bay area.
Aqueous organic flow battery for renewables storage
The Chinese Academy of Sciences has fabricated a kilowatt-scale aqueous redox flow battery with a capacity of 80 mA cm-2 over 500 cycles. The researchers claim that it is a promising candidate for large-scale energy storage.
Customizable sticker to turn solar panels into advertising billboards
An Italian startup has created a fully recyclable sticker that can be used to cover solar panels on rooftops or facades. It replicates high-definition images that can help to improve the aesthetics of solar arrays or turn PV facades into advertising billboards.
France introduces solar requirement for parking lots
The French parliament has approved a new measure to make it mandatory for parking lots to include solar if their surface area is more than 1,500 square meters.
South Africa’s sixth renewables auction concludes with lowest bid of $0.02689/kWh
South Africa selected five solar projects with a combined capacity of 860 MW in its latest auction. However, the authorities did not select any wind projects from the 4.1 GW of bids that were submitted. The final average price for PV was ZAR 0.490 ($0.02808)/kWh.
US startup develops solar-powered agricultural dehydrator
UA Technologies has developed PV-powered crop dehydration products that don’t require oil and gas fuel.
Australian researchers patent additive for perovskite’s stability problem
University of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers in Australia have discovered a low-cost way to stabilize perovskite solar cells with a triple function additive. Perovskite cells have shown the best stability results with it so far.
EU aims for 30 GW of solar module production by 2025
The European Commission has launched the EU Solar PV Industry Alliance. SolarPower Europe has already joined the new entity, while EIT InnoEnergy said it will act as its secretariat.
Portugal cuts environmental approvals for utility-scale solar projects
Portugal’s new environmental rules will apply to PV projects built on sites spanning less than 100 hectares, but they will not apply to installations in protected areas.
