Western Europe

French start-up Solar Cloth has secured a patent for a PV shade screen for solar greenhouses.

Australia and Germany have brought their national hydrogen strategies together after signing a new agreement for a joint feasibility study into green hydrogen production and trade. The agreement was welcomed around the country as auspicious of Australia’s potential as a global green hydrogen superpower.

Iasol has developed a new way to protect solar plants in windy conditions. The Spanish developer said the solution barely has an impact on project costs or output, while preventing expensive damages.

German company Wystrach has developed a 350-bar hydrogen refueling station for heavy duty vehicles which can be installed anywhere.

Endesa, the Spanish unit of Italian power group Enel, is using a new technology in the construction of three solar parks in southern Spain.

The German government is planning to tender 5.3 GW in the rooftop segment and 13.5 GW for large-scale PV projects.

In February, non-profit EU solar panel recycling body PV Cycle announced it had collected 5,000 tons of modules in France, of which 94.7% could be recycled. A reader asked us about the remaining 5.3% and here, PV Cycle’s communications manager, Bertrand Lempkowicz, responds.

In its H1 2020 report, the UK-based infrastructure investor revealed it had suffered substantial losses, mainly due to performance issues on its renewable energy projects. Two of the company’s Australian solar farms were particularly badly hit by transmission and equipment issues.

Analyst IHS Markit has predicted storage will rebound this year following its first year-on-year decline in 2019. The technology is being rolled out at pace despite Covid-19 with state-level policies set to keep the US the global capital for the next five years.

Flow battery manufacturers typically pursue utility scale storage projects but German start-up VoltStorage is targeting the household market.