Spain

Mónica LiraCantú leads a research group investigating nanostructured materials for photovoltaic energy at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2). Recently, her group led a project that looked deep into the crystalline structure of a perovskite solar cell, revealing new information about the formation of defects in the material and how they could be engineered to improve both efficiency and stability. pv magazine caught up with the Barcelona-based scientist to discuss the state of the art in perovskite solar cells and remaining challenges on the road to commercialisation.

With projects in many PV markets ageing past the 10-year mark – with major leaps in technology having occurred in that time – revamping is a popular topic among asset owners. Pv magazine spoke with Asier Ukar, general manager of the Spanish subsidiary of German testing company PI Berlin, to uncover the benefits of revamping PV projects with new components and also to examine the challenges and risks involved.

Spanish renewable energy company Acciona is testing four second-life batteries with a combined capacity of 130 kWh at its 1.2 MW experimental solar park in Tudela, in the Spanish region of Navarra.

Australian financial group Macquarie Asset Management on Monday announced a €90 million (AU$141.5 million) debt investment in a portfolio of concentrated solar power (CSP) plants in southern Spain.

Spanish mounting system provider Alusín Solar has developed a solution to enable the transit of installers on roofs. It has recently commissioned a production line for this product, which it dubbed Carex.

An international team of scientists fabricated perovskite solar cells which retained almost all of their initial 21% efficiency after 1,000 hours under continuous operation at their maximum power point. The researchers credit this performance to their discovery of an additive that served to ‘block’ ions that cause device degradation, and also hope their work will contribute to an improved understanding of the relationship between efficiency and stability in perovskite PV.

The system, developed by Spanish specialist Alusín Solar, is being tested by Endesa in a 9.8 MW project for self-consumption. The mounting structure is made with aluminium bars that, instead of being fixed to the roof with screws, are attached through a double-sided adhesive.

Spanish PV project developer Gransolar is planning to build a large-scale green hydrogen production plant in the Port of Almería, in southern Spain.

The municipal government of Barcelona is supporting the development of a 50-square-meter pilot project to test the feasibility of PV-paving tech.

The project, called the Trillo photovoltaic complex, is located in Spain and will have an installed capacity of 626 MW. Construction is scheduled to begin on May 7.