Landis+Gyr and PEP buy smart meter business from Origin Energy
The newly founded joint venture raised $500 million in capital investments realize a large scale smart meter roll out in Australia. Origin Energy previously contracted Acumen for this sector. The Acumen brand will be retained and managed together with intelliHUB
A cautionary tale: Sourcing modules in a tight market
German EPC Goldbeck Solar shares the unfortunate details of a botched module supply deal with China Sunergy. To date, Goldbeck Solar claims it is yet to receive a single module and has been let badly out of pocket.
18 MW Tesla battery ‘backbone’ of new Belgium VPP
The installation of an 18 MW battery storage system shows the Belgium region of Flanders’ pioneering work in integrating innovative storage systems to its electricity grid.
EU startups focus on software for solar integration and operation
The 2018 Ecosummit Berlin, a EU cleantech startup platform, focussed on smart green energy and mobility. Of the 99 speakers, 69 were startups presenting innovative solutions to a changing energy economy, catering to the needs of end-customers, developers and utilities alike.
SMA confirms guidance for 2018
In the first quarter of 2018 SMA saw its sales increase slightly, while EBITDA improved compared to the same period of the previous year. Net profit, however, was significantly below the level of the first quarter of 2017.
Iconic Mercedes-Benz star to disappear from residential market
The German car maker entered the solar PV home storage business in mid-2016. In the future, its parent company, Daimler will align the stationary storage segment with its grid business.
ABB launches what it says is world’s fastest EV charger
The Terra High Power charger can charge an electric vehicle (EV) in just eight minutes, thus adding up to 200 km of range, says ABB, which launched the new model at this year’s Hannover Messe.
EU grants €5 million to perovskite research consortium
Belgian institute Imec will be the coordinator of a project involving many of Europe’s leading research organizations, which will focus on developing stable, scalable, low cost PV modules based on perovskite technology. The project, named ‘ESPResSo’ has received more than €5 million in funding from the European Union.
Fraunhofer ISE, Schmid develop production line concept for custom design modules
German research institute Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) and equipment supplier Schmid have jointly developed a production for customizable modules for building-integrated projects. According to Fraunhofer ISE, the concepts developed by joint study could reduce the production cost for BIPV modules as much as 35%.
1.4 GW of storage added in 2017 as Australia resi and U.S. large-scale leads way, finds GTM
Inaugural global energy storage report by GTM Research finds that Australia’s behind-the-meter storage market tripled in 2017, while the U.S. remains the world’s leading market with an installed energy capacity of 431 MWh. China poised to rise to second place globally in 2019.
