A lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery system recently exploded in a home in central Germany, preventing police and insurance investigators from entering due to the high risk of collapse. The explosion may have been preceded by off-gassing, but it remains unclear whether an external ignition source was the cause. Some scientists say thermal runaway may have triggered the blast.

pv magazine has learned that five solar-related fires in Germany and Austria occurred in late September. Photographs show that two of the blazes were likely caused by residential batteries manufactured by LG.

1Komma5° says it plans to start production at a new TOPCon solar module factory in Germany from next year. The Hamburg-based startup aims to achieve an annual production capacity of 1 GW, with further expansion targets set to reach 5 GW by the year 2030.

Shell, which acquired Sonnen four years ago, is now actively seeking a majority shareholder for the Germany storage system specialist.

A German consumer protection association, Verbraucherzentrale NRW, has issued a warning about five misleading assumptions about PV-linked residential battery systems.

Switzerland-based manufacturer Meyer Burger is now prioritising the establishment of new module and cell production facilities in the United States, driven by favourable market conditions in the country.

The SeaVolt consortium says it will launch an offshore floating PV demonstrator off the Belgian port of Ostend. The main companies – Tractebel, DEME, Equans and Jan De Nul – say the anchored floating array will collect data for at least a year to scale up the tech.

The Amortisator app, initially developed for the German market, is now available on the Apple and Google Play stores. Primarily targeting customer advisors, the app can be accessed for a monthly fee of €9.99 ($10.93).

German renewables developer Solar Kapital has deployed membranes at three of its utility scale PV plants in Greece and claims the technology has delivered an up to 6.4% increase in yield and the payback time of the new solution is relatively short.

Prolux Solutions has developed a redox flow battery with a charging and discharging capacity of 4 kW and 5 kW of peak power. It is designed to be coupled with PV systems in homes with high consumption profiles.