France’s Nepsen has completed the first floating solar project in Armenia. The 150 kW array, which is installed on Lake Yerevan, will serve as a pilot for future floating PV plants in the country.

Israel has kicked off a tender for a new 100 MW solar project. The array will be constructed in Ashalim alongside four other PV installations and concentrated solar power (CSP) projects. The selected developer is expected to complete construction by 2027.

A British research group has aggregated information from seven field studies on heat pumps from around the world and has found air-source devices have an average coefficient of performance (COP) of 2.74 when temperatures are above −10 C. Below that, COP is between 1.5 and 2.

Research from Portugal has looked into adding utility scale PV capacity to wind plants across the country and found the hybridization can significantly increase their market value. The scientists also identified the most critical parameters for forecasting energy generation in hybrid wind-solar plants.

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s (DEWA) Hatta pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant is now 74% complete, and it is expected to begin operations in the first half of 2025. The facility will also store electricity from the 5 GW Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

Scientists from South Korea have developed a heat pump optimization technique that controls the secondary refrigerant flow. The proposed technology offers the advantage of bypassing the need to control the compressor of the heat pump, which is a function that is commonly not available in commercial devices.

Teralight has completed Israel’s largest floating PV project, deploying 31 MW of capacity on two water reservoirs in the northern part of the country, at an estimated project cost of $33.8 million.

Scientists in India have combined a solar-assisted heat pump with a humidification-dehumidification and vapor compression refrigeration (HDH-VCR) cycle to generate heat and cooling. The system is reportedly able to generate up to 5.5 l per hour (LPH) of fresh water while achieving an ‘enhanced’ coefficient of performance.

New research from Belgium shows agrivoltaic facilities with trackers perform significantly better than projects with fixed structures. The scientists found projects with tracking achieved an LCOE of €0.077 ($0.082)/kWh, while facilities with fixed structures were found to have an LCOE of €0.10/kWh.

Israel has announced plans to deploy 2 GW of grid-connected renewables. It will allow for additional renewable plants to be built without causing grid congestion, based on specific parameters.