Western Europe

The acquisition is Q Cells’ first energy storage acquisition and marks its move into the U.S. commercial and industrial (C&I) solar-plus-storage market.

The high-profile electric car maker is conducting a survey of German customers to gauge their interest in a Tesla electricity tariff.

Flow battery firms have typically pursued utility-scale storage projects rather than the small-scale residential applications targeted by VoltStorage.

SolarEdge was able to keep its streak of profitable quarters going — in what was expected to be a hard-hit quarter for solar. The company sees “signs of recovery in the U.S.”

Despite strong revenue growth in the U.S., the racking company is abandoning its U.S. manufacturing (and rhetoric) to “create a globally diversified supply chain.” Quick Mount was acquired by Netherlands-based Esdec last year in a roll-up of U.S. racking companies.

Tesla boss Elon Musk has published the first image of the planned Gigafactory in Grünheide, near Berlin, in eastern Germany.

Plus a bunch of investments in carbon capture.

The EU-funded Nextbase project aims to manufacture heterojunction, interdigitated back-contact solar modules for less than €0.275/W. Solar panels featuring the Nextbase cell tech are expected to have a conversion efficiency of 23.2%, according to the European Commission.

Also in the brief: largest operational battery in the U.S., more futile carbon capture and more landfill solar

Also African microgrids, $200 million for solid-state batteries, $20 million for utility field safety, billions for infrastructure, and millions for deep tech.