Belgium

The electricity produced by the floating array will power the Cable Park aquatic park, with surplus power injected into the grid. The project is part of a series of floating plants the Flemish government has been supporting since October.

The Verbraucherzentrale NRW says advertising for the Solstråle solar system is misleading and has warned the furniture provider and its partner Solarcentury Microgen (Deutschland) GmbH it will begin legal action if the campaign is not changed.

The innovation is said to be able to produce 250 liters of hydrogen per day and can convert sunlight and water vapor from the air directly into hydrogen gas with an efficiency of 15%.

The result was certified by the solar cells laboratory at the calibration and test center of Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research. Imec’s measurements showed cell bifaciality surpassed 80%.

In both Belgium and Chile, the planned mandatory installation of smart meters is raising concerns among consumers, residential PV system owners and the solar industry. Although seen as a positive, the early stages of smart meter deployment create issues related to the calculation of net metering tariffs and the management and ownership of consumption data, as well as additional costs for consumers.

The controversial charge for residential PV systems will apply only to installations connected to the grid after July 1, and will come into force from 2020. Wallonia has around 1.1 GW of installed solar capacity, most of it residential PV systems.

Most of the nation’s solar is in Flanders, which at the end of December had more than 3 GW of grid-connected PV. Wallonia and Brussels account for the remaining 1.1 GW and 83 MW, respectively. Although Belgian solar is still dominated by residential PV, a stronger stimulus for the market may come from the large-scale segment in the years ahead.

The International Renewable Energy Agency has examined how common ground between sectors; digitalization; and technological innovation can transform the energy system and lower the cost of renewables. Storage technologies such as behind-the-meter applications, utility-scale storage and power-to-x are working in the right direction and much can be learned about digitalization from other sectors.

The energy regulator of Flanders has set a provisional feed-in premium of €0.02595/kWh – to be added to the spot market price – for a 1.35 MW solar project under development in the region. That is considerably more affordable for public support than the feed-in premium of €0.078/kWh the VEA set a year earlier for a 100 MW project under development by Engie.

Belgian research institute imec has developed a new simulation framework it says can calculate the expected output of a bifacial PV system. The model could help improve developer understanding of the best system configurations for bifacial, and foster confidence among investors by providing a precise prediction of energy yields.