Switzerland

Switzerland is expanding rules for rooftop solar, energy storage, and energy communities to expand self-consumption and ease pressure on the grid. The new regulations, set to take effect in 2026, introduce updated tariffs, encourage battery storage, and allow local electricity trading.

The Spanish government allocated €1.2 billion ($1.26 billion) for seven green hydrogen clusters concentrated in Aragon and Andalusia. Meanwhile, an EU consortium started its work to develop diagnostic and monitoring tools for water electrolyzers.

The Baumgarten solar project consists of a 366 kW ground-mounted vertical PV array and a 2.5 MW/3 MWh storage facility.

An international team has utilized an n-type polymeric additive to stabilize C60 molecules for use in inverted perovskite PV cells. Thanks to this approach, the researchers built a solar cell with the highest efficiency value ever recorded for perovskite devices based on solution processed C60 electron transport layers.

Climacy, a building integrated PV manufacturer, has launched a new semi-transparent 400 W glass-glass panel that is suitable for use in roofs or facades in residential, industrial and commercial buildings. When used as a roof or wall componentt, the 20% transparent panels reportedly allow more natural light into interior spaces than conventional PV designs.

Switzerland’s cumulative installed solar power reached around 8 GW at the end of December 2024, following 1.78 GW of new capacity additions for the year.

A team from the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) has developed a 3D-printed battery. Fungi are used as anode and cathode with one releasing electrons during metabolism and the other able to absorb them.

The Energy Industries Council (EIC) says 41 hydrogen projects are set to begin development across Africa in the next five years, led by North African nations like Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco.

An international team researching wide bandgap perovskite films announced an effective technique to control the crystal orientation without compromising charge transport. The new approach was demonstrated in an all-perovskite tandem solar cell with an open-circuit voltage of 2.21 V and certified power conversion efficiency of 29.1%,

Work has begun on the Swiss Madrisa Solar project, a 12 MW alpine PV installation located at an elevation of 2,000 m near a ski resort of the village of Klosters. It is part of the Solar Express initiative designed to boost domestic winter energy production.