Sweden

First Solar has agreed to pay $38 million to buy Swedish manufacturing startup Evolar AB, as it seeks to expand development of high-efficiency tandem PV tech.

The POL Lux from Sweden is a catamaran boat design with dual electric motors and a solar canopy that can covert into a private sleeping area.

A Swedish team has inaugurated a pilot facility to mass produce algae material that can potentially boost silicon solar module efficiency by 4% and thin film by 36%. The algae are added to the encapsulant in silicon-based modules or to the anti-reflective coating on the glass of thin film modules. The team estimates the resulting modules would be 3.9% cheaper.

Swedish researchers have developed a model to analyze the microclimate parameters of a vertically mounted agrivoltaic system. They validated their model by comparing its estimations with measurements of solar irradiance, PV module temperature, and ground temperature.

Swedish start-up Clean Motion hopes to commercialize an electric delivery van that is also powered by IBC solar modules placed on its roof.

Soltech Energy has installed a 646 kW solar facade on a parking garage in Sweden that hosts 300 EV-charging posts.

Yotta Energy just won seed funding to install batteries under solar modules — in an architecture analogous to microinverters and optimizers.

A weekly round up of investments and exits in solar and energy transition technologies.

The European battery manufacturer has raised the funds with a private shares placement which included the co-founder and CEO of music streaming service Spotify.

The Nordic nation is now the third European country to wave goodbye to coal for power generation. Another 11 European states have made plans to follow suit over the next decade.