According to data from the Nationaal Klimaat platform, renewables accounted for about 49.6 percent of total electricity demand in the Netherlands in the first half of this year.   In the Netherlands, the Nationaal Klimaat platform reported that in the first half of 2023, photovoltaic power generation accounted for about 18.9% of the country's electricity demand.   Solar accounted for the highest share of renewables throughout the period, followed by onshore wind (14.2%), offshore wind (8.6%), biomass (7.8%) and hydropower (0.1%). Overall, renewables accounted for 49.6 per cent of the electricity mix, up from about 43 per cent the previous year.   The Nationaal Klimaat platform said: "Photovoltaic generation reached a new peak in June, accounting for more than a third of all electricity. There were about 140 hours in June when sustainable electricity generation from solar and wind was greater than the total electricity demand of the Netherlands."   The agency said the increase in renewables' share was mainly due to a reduction in total electricity consumption throughout the first half of the year, noting that clean energy could soon surpass the 50 percent mark as more wind and solar power stations are expected to be connected to the grid by the end of the year.   The increase in renewable energy generation has not led to negative electricity prices, the agency said, adding that demand from neighbouring countries has helped prevent this from happening.   According to a new report by Netbeheer Nederland, the national association of regional electricity and gas network operators in the Netherlands, the total installed solar capacity in the Netherlands could reach 100 GW to 180 GW by 2050. According to the latest data from the Dutch statistical agency CBS, the country's cumulative installed PV capacity reached 16.5 GW at the end of June 2022, and said the country had installed 3,803 MW in 2021 and 3,882 MW in 2022.

According to a study, more than half of Germany's electricity consumption in the first half of 2023 came from renewable sources.   The Baden-Wurttemberg Research Centre for Solar and Hydrogen Energy (ZSW) and the Federal Association for Energy and Water Management (BDEW) announced that in the first half of 2023, renewables covered about 52 percent of total domestic electricity consumption, three percentage points higher than in the same period in 2022 (49 percent).   In May 2023, in particular, 57% of electricity consumption was provided by renewables due to sunny weather, up from the previous record of 62% set in February 2022. German photovoltaic systems produced 8.8 billion kWh of electricity this month, higher than ever before.   The two organizations also said that according to preliminary statistics, the power generation of photovoltaic systems in June could even exceed 10 billion kWh, breaking the record set in May.   Kerstin Andreae, chairman of the BDEW Executive Board, said Germany needs a proper regulatory framework to meet its 2045 climate-neutral target. Recently, the German Federal Ministry for Economic and Climate Protection (BMWK) launched a request for interest to promote the development of the solar PV manufacturing supply chain in Germany.   At the same time, Andreae says skilled workers are needed. In late March, the German government announced changes to its current immigration policy to attract skilled workers.   Frithjof Stai, executive director of ZSW? If Germany wants to be climate neutral by 2045, it will have to generate all of its electricity from renewable sources by 2035.   The German government is aiming for 215GW of installed capacity by 2030. As a result, Germany's solar capacity will need to nearly double by the end of the decade.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, as solar generation has increased in California, the grid operator of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) has seen net load (the remaining demand after subtracting variable renewable energy generation) decline on days when solar generation tends to be at its highest. When charting the load for a typical day, it can be seen that the net load curve drops sharply in the middle of the day and then rises sharply in the evening when the solar generation drops, so that the curve formed looks like the outline of a duck, so this pattern is often referred to as the "duck curve". As California's solar generation continues to grow, the decline in midday net load is increasing, creating challenges for grid operators. Grid operators need to balance a region's generation and electricity demand at all times. Demand is lowest overnight, when most consumers are sleeping and many businesses are closed. In the morning, as people wake up and businesses open for business, demand starts to increase. Demand kept rising throughout the day, rising slightly in the evening as people returned home from work and residential electricity use increased, then falling again late at night. However, unlike conventional power plants, such as nuclear, coal and natural gas plants, solar and wind resources cannot be deployed at will to meet demand, and utilities have at some point had to cut back on these resources to protect grid operations. Solar energy is generated only during the day, peaking at noon when the sun is at its strongest and waning at sunset. As more solar capacity comes online and conventional power plants are used less frequently in the middle of the day, the duck curve becomes more pronounced. The duck curve implies two challenges associated with the increased use of solar energy. The first challenge is the strain on the power grid. Demand for electricity from conventional power plants fluctuates dramatically from midday to late at night, when energy demand is still high, but solar generation has declined, meaning that conventional power plants (such as natural gas plants) must rapidly increase electricity production to meet consumer demand. This rapid growth makes it harder for grid operators to match grid supply and grid demand in real time. In addition, if the amount of solar energy produced exceeds the amount used by the grid, operators may have to reduce solar power generation to prevent over-generation. The other challenge is economic. The dynamic nature of the duck curve can challenge the traditional economics of dispatchable power plants because the factors that lead to the curve reduce the operating time of conventional power plants, resulting in reduced electricity revenue. If the loss of revenue makes plant maintenance uneconomical, the plant may be decommissioned without a dispatchable replacement. In systems where net demand fluctuates greatly, the reduction in dispatchable power make...

Serbian authorities have launched the country's first renewable energy auction, allocating 50 MW of photovoltaic projects and 400 MW of wind projects. These projects will be supported through contracts for difference over a 15-year period. Serbian Prime Minister Brnabic has launched an auction to allocate 450 MW of renewable energy capacity. Serbia has allocated 50 MW of solar PV projects and 400 MW of wind projects in its first renewable energy auction. The projects will be supported through a 15-year contract for difference. The upcoming auction sets a ceiling price of €105 ($113.56) per megawatt-hour for wind farms larger than 3 MW and €90 per megawatt-hour for solar projects larger than 500 kW. State-owned utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) will be the exclusive offtaker for these projects. The bidding deadline is August 14, 2023. The auction is the first phase of a three-year plan to allocate fees for a total of 1,000 MW of wind capacity and 300 MW of solar capacity. "Taking into account the relevant market prices, it is estimated that with the successful implementation of the auction, the Serbian power company will receive more than 3 million euros per year," Dubravka d 'Edovidic, Serbia's Minister of Mines and energy, said in a statement. Successful bidders must comply with a newly adopted balanced responsibility contract model that requires them to pay a surcharge to EPS for output deviations. The surcharge will be calculated based on the previous day's market prices, the government said. The auction will receive financial support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). In March, the EBRD approved a €300 million EPS financing program to accelerate the development of wind and solar energy and help Serbia meet its goal of phasing out coal by 2050. The bank has been assisting Serbia with renewable energy auctions since 2020. According to the description of the draft plan of the Serbian government, the country plans to achieve the goal of 8.3 GW of PV installed capacity by 2024. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Serbia has 137 MW of installed PV capacity by the end of 2022.

On June 12, according to the French Ecological Transformation Ministry report, in the January-March quarter of this year, France has about 601MW of new photovoltaic installed projects connected to the grid. As of the end of March, France's cumulative installed PV capacity reached 17.15GW. By the end of March 2023, France's cumulative installed photovoltaic capacity reached 17.15 GW. In the first quarter of this year, the regions of Nueva Aquitaine, Auvergne Rhene Alpes, Provence Alpes-Cote d 'Azur and Greater Eastern accounted for 63% of all new capacity connected to the grid. Several regions have the highest installed capacity in France, accounting for more than 73% of France's cumulative electricity generation at the end of March. At the same time, the total capacity of solar projects in line for grid connection has increased by 40 percent to 18.5GW since the beginning of the year, including 4.4GW of signed grid connection agreements.

European energy power companies have slashed the feed-in tariff they pay to home rooftop PV owners. The site studied 51 energy contracts and found that the acquisition price had dropped from more than 20 cents per kilowatt-hour at the beginning of the year to an average of just 8 cents. Vattenfall, the Swedish power company, was one of the best payers, offering 16.8 cents per kilowatt-hour for customers on non-fixed energy contracts, but is now offering just 4.5 cents for customers on three-year fixed deals. The drop in feed-in tariffs is linked to a big increase in the number of solar panels. On sunny days, there is a surplus of electricity, which has led to falling or even negative prices on the wholesale market. But even with excess power, utilities are actually paying for the power that rooftop photovoltaics provide. In light of this, the Swedish government plans to adjust the regulations for rooftop photovoltaic Internet access, as the current system costs the Treasury more than 400 million euros in lost energy taxes. The government believes that by reducing the purchase price for rooftop photovoltaics, residents can be encouraged to use more of their own electricity and invest in home battery storage systems.

The Italian authority allocated 368.2MW of installed renewable energy capacity in the latest round of clean energy procurement activities. Developers offered maximum discounts of 2% to 2.8% at the maximum auction price of €0.065 ($0.070)/kWh. Italian energy agency Gestore dei Servizi Energetici (GSE) has allocated 368.2MW of renewable energy capacity for projects larger than 1 MW in the country's 11th round of renewable energy auctions. The Gses awarded solar capacity projects with a total of 149 MW at 16 sites and five wind projects with a total capacity of 213.8 MW. These PV projects range in size from 1.7MW to 49.5MW. Developers offered maximum discounts of 2% to 2.8% at the maximum auction price of €0.065/kWh. The minimum bid of €0.0607/kWh comes from the largest project, a 75.6MW wind farm planned for Foggia province in southern Italy. These bids were slightly higher than or equal to the 10th round of the renewable energy auction and all other prior auctions.

Daniel Westerman, chief executive of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), said renewable energy cuts in Australia were up about 40 percent from last year. Australia finds itself caught between needing more renewable power generation and limiting the number of renewable projects in large areas of the national grid. To complicate matters further, some camps believe a new transmission system is the only way out of the situation, but Australia's framework for assessing transmission projects is not considered fit for purpose. AEMO chief Executive Daniel Westerman told a forum in Sydney on May 15 that cuts in renewable energy projects had risen by almost 40% over the past year. The states most affected are Victoria and New South Wales, and the woes extend to parts of Queensland. "We can see from the control room that more and more solar and wind power is being cut because there is not enough transmission capacity," Westerman said. From January to March, connections from Victoria to New Zealand and Tasmania were at their limits 42 per cent and 57 per cent of the time respectively. "The line to NSW was bound for two-thirds of the time that the sun was producing free electrons, and over 80% of the time to Tasmania," he said. In other words, part of our electric highway is paralyzed." Ian Learmonth, chief executive of the Australian Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), said Australia was well below the level needed to meet its climate targets - namely a 43% cut in emissions by 2030 and more than 80% of electricity generated from renewables on the national grid. "To meet the ambitious targets around renewables and emissions reductions, we need to install about 29GW of large-scale renewable energy, which is roughly 3.6GW per year or 300MW per month, equivalent to a sizeable wind farm per month," Learmonth said.

In recent years, China's new energy sector has developed rapidly, among which photovoltaic products are well received by the European market. As Europe speeds up its green transition, PV industry insiders in Spain and Portugal are optimistic about the prospects of cooperation with Chinese companies in the solar power sector. The Francisco Pizarro Solar Farm in the southwestern Spanish autonomous region of Extremadura is the largest operational photovoltaic power plant in Europe. It was built and operated by Spanish power company Iverdrola Group and opened in the summer of 2022. It uses solar panels entirely from China. With an installed capacity of 590 megawatts, the Francesco Pizarro solar plant consists of 1.5 million solar panels, 13,700 trackers and 313 inverters, providing green and clean energy for 334,000 homes, Jose Belliot, the company's renewable energy development commissioner for Extremadura region, said at the site. 'There have been no problems with the Chinese-made panels after they have been put into operation,' Mr. Bellet said. 'Chinese photovoltaic products fit our needs just right.' Spain is Europe's second-largest market for solar power. According to a report published by the European Solar Energy Industries Association at the end of 2022, Spain's total installed PV capacity is expected to reach 26.4 gigawatts by the end of 2022, with 7.5 gigawatts added in 2022 alone. Data show that 41.1 gigawatts of new PV capacity were installed in the EU in 2022, up 47 percent from 2021. Jose Donoso Alonso, secretary-general of the Spanish Photovoltaic Association, said that the quality and cost advantages of Chinese photovoltaic products are obvious to all. At present, Spain imports mainly inverters and photovoltaic panels from China, which are very competitive. Mr Alonso said Spain planned to have 30 gigawatts of total installed PV capacity by 2030, but this could be raised to 55 gigawatts to 65 gigawatts, given the interest shown by investors and the state of the industry. Alonso believes that the cooperation between Spain and China is crucial to promoting the development of the global photovoltaic industry, and the large-scale development of the photovoltaic industry in Spain will also help China explore the European market. Portugal is also a big importer of Chinese photovoltaic products. Pedro Amaral Georgiou, CEO of the Portuguese Renewable Energy Association, said that Chinese-made photovoltaic panels, which account for about 85 percent of the market in Portugal, have obtained the highest quality certification and are recognized by power companies, financing institutions and others. Portugal aims to have 9 gigawatts of total installed PV capacity by 2030, but the government may raise the target to 18 gigawatts to 20 gigawatts, Jorge said. Portugal must strengthen cooperation with China if its total installed PV capacity is to reach 20 gigawatts. We look forward to more construction and investment by Chinese companies in the European...

Green Akku, a German supplier of solar panels for balconies, is now reportedly offering ZaunPV(fencePV), a plug-in photovoltaic system that can be easily installed on a garden fence. Fence photovoltaic is a new type of photovoltaic power generation system that can combine the fence with photovoltaic panels to convert solar energy into electricity. Such a system would provide energy for the fence, while also injecting excess power into the grid, improving energy efficiency. Fence photovoltaics can also be used in lighting, access control, surveillance and other systems in public places, as well as power supply in rural areas. The photovoltaic system can be vertically attached to the fence, and is able to generate more solar energy even in less sunny weather and winter. This plug and play system can also be installed on other types of fences. The inverter can be connected directly to the home network through a safety plug. In addition to housing, fence photovoltaic can also be applied to urban, industrial, public facilities and other fields, including urban walls, rural fences, highways, schools, hospitals and other places. In addition to photovoltaic fence, solar anti-theft fence, photovoltaic monitoring fence and other products and designs have gradually entered the public field of vision. As one of the world's leading countries in the field of renewable energy, Germany has a wide range of fence photovoltaic applications, including solar anti-theft fence, fence photovoltaic monitoring and so on. Australia has a large amount of solar energy, and the application of fence photovoltaic is also relatively widespread in the country, which is widely used in public places, rural areas and so on. The United States is relatively mature in the field of fence photovoltaic, and many states have adopted fence photovoltaic technology to power public facilities, such as gas stations, bus stops, campuses, etc. It is important to note that the specific application of fence PV and roof PV needs to take into account local regulations, safety, environmental and building conditions and other factors. In general, the application of fence photovoltaic is still in its infancy, and there are still some technical and marketing difficulties. However, with the continuous maturity of technology and policy support, it is believed that fence photovoltaic will be more widely used in the future.