Burundi, the poorest country on earth, is unable to buy fossil fuels on theinternational market due to a lack of hard currency. pv magazine spoke with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and a PV analyst to assess the true potential of PV in the nation's current energy crisis. Burundi installed 340 kW of energy capacity in 2023, the UNDP told pv magazine, adding that the country could increase this in 2024. The local office was unable to provide a forecast for 2024 or the total installed capacity in 2022, as that many small-scale projects often go unnoticed.  “Photovoltai ..read more

Two Korean research institutes are designing the 2.2 km × 2.7 km Korean Space Solar Power Satellite project with the aim of providing approximately 1 TWh of electricity to the Earth per year. The proposed system should use 4,000 sub-solar arrays of 10 m × 270 m, made out of thin film roll-out, with a system power efficiency of 13.5%. Scientists from South Korea’s Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute presented in a new paper the advancements of their Korean Space Solar Power Satellite (K-SSPS) project. Namely, they presented a conceptual d ..read more

Greece has grand plans for an interconnector network that runs from the Middle East through to the heart of Europe. pv magazine examines the latest developments on the road to a Mediterranean super grid and what it might mean for the regions involved. From pv magazine 04/24 There is great imagination in Greece’s interconnection strategy. Recent announcements about plans to connect the Greek grid with networks in Saudi Arabia, Austria, and Germany demonstrate huge ambition. Moreover, in recent years, the country has been steadily working to link with Cyprus, Israel, and Egypt. The idea of an el ..read more

Rather than pondering the introduction of trade measures against solar imports, Europe should be pragmatic about its short-term reliance on Asian panels while moving now to nurture and incentivize a domestic supply chain of the future. The current debate about whether European Union trade measures should be put into effect to defend against low-priced solar imports has led to disagreement between manufacturers and policymakers. Otovo CEO Andreas Thorsheim. Image: Otovo Europe must maintain its momentum in deploying new renewable energy generation assets, necessitating imports, while also prior ..read more

The European Commission has warned about the potential impact of trade measures on Europe's renewable energy rollout, but has shied away from outlining emergency measures to address the continent's solar manufacturing crisis. With affordable solar panels a key to the European Union’s energy transition goals, the use of trade measures must be weighed against the bloc's ambitious climate goals, a senior official said on Monday. In a statement in the European Parliament, EU Finance Commissioner Mairead McGuinness discussed the price and oversupply crisis facing the European solar industry, but sh ..read more

The Moldovan government is preparing to launch the country's first renewables auctions, which will seek to procure 105 MW of wind and 60 MW of solar projects. The tenders will take place between April and July. Moldova's Ministry of Energy has published the timetable for large-scale renewable energy tenders. The procurement exercises will kick off on April 9 and bids will be received for at least three months.  The maximum capacity for PV project particitaing in the auction will be 1 MW. The tender will procure a total of 60 MW of solar projects.  “We absolutely expect new tende ..read more

UK researchers have evaluated the impact that heat pumps could have on fuel poverty in England and Scotland. They have found that the benefits heat pumps can provide exist in both scenarios. Scientists from the United Kingdom have evaluated the impact of heat pumps on fuel poverty in England and Scotland. Their analysis considered pre- and post-energy crisis prices using levels from 2019 and 2022, which were shaped by the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war. “Fuel poverty is a state where households struggle to afford the energy needed to heat their homes comfortably. The far-reaching conseque ..read more

Germany, in collaboration with Italy, has revealed plans to import hydrogen from Northern Africa. Germany and Italy have agreed to expand their energy ties with a hydrogen pipeline across the Alps to transporting gases, mainly hydrogen, from North Africa to Northern Europe. “It is particularly important to expand the Southern Corridor for gas and hydrogen,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, during a press conference this week with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. “With a new pipeline across the Alps, we want to increase the security of supply of both our countries.” The corri ..read more

Human Geographer Thilo Wiertz speaks to pv magazine on the particular features that characterized the trajectory of renewable energies after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. He emphasized how the geopolitical tensions arising from this conflict have reshaped the political debate about the energy transition, with the energy security perspective gaining in importance. The extraordinary uptick in renewable energy demand triggered by the beginning of the war in Ukraine, with the subsequent huge increase in the renewables industry's global manufacturing capacity may have represented a unique pha ..read more

Researchers have looked into the impact of potential regulated charge exemptions on two types of energy communities in 39 European countries. They have found that communities with collectively owned PV systems achieve greater savings. A new European research initiative has looked into the impact that regulations have on solar energy communities. The researchers have assessed two kinds of communities – one in which prosumers share the surplus energy created on their own rooftops, and another in which consumers share the energy generated by collectively owned PV. “Given the increasing interest i ..read more