Czechia

Panels will be installed at waste sites in five mining towns as part of the latest, €2.4 billion ($2.57 million) round of investment from a fund set up to help coal-dependent European member states with the energy transition.

PV developers in Czechia can apply for solar rebates until Aug. 31. Solar-plus-storage projects will also be able to participate.

New research has categorized all existing fault detection and localization strategies for grid-connected PV inverters. The overview also provides a classification of various component failure modes and their potential causes in a tabular form.

Photovoltaic shades in buildings offer energy efficiency and electricity generation, but an international research group says their commercial viability will depend on the control strategies used to optimize performance.

The funds were taken from the country’s National Recovery Plan in an effort to reduce energy dependence on Russia. A call to select eligible projects will be launched on March 22. Solar-plus-storage projects will also be entitled to participate.

The latest numbers released by EU data body Eurostat indicate renewables, including hydropower, contributed 37% of Europe’s gross electricity consumption in 2020, up from 34% a year earlier.

A preliminary ruling by the European Court of Justice states panel makers should not be responsible for electrical waste management costs in a seven-year period as the rules in place before the EU’s WEEE directive entered force, in 2012, permitted member states to place the obligation on panel users instead. The resulting change in law, in some states, cannot be applied retroactively, under EU legal rules.

Operated by Czech utility CEZ Group, the pilot solar plant will be located at different heights during the charge and recharge cycles of a pumped-hydro plant and the difference in height may reach up to nine meters.

The Czech authorities have extended, to February, the deadline to submit PV projects of up to 1 MW for the rebate scheme for small sized, ground mounted photovoltaics. According to Jan Krčmář, chairman of the Czech Solar Association, the lower than expected interest in the program may also be down to higher PV component prices.

Industry association SolarPower Europe expects little change in the line-up of Europe’s biggest residential battery markets in four years’ time, with a rush of retrofits as turn-of-the-century solar feed-in tariffs begin to expire, set to keep Germany way ahead of the pack.