A Swiss start-up has come up with a way to install a solar power plant between railway tracks. Trains can travel over it at speeds of up to 150 kilometres per hour. The first hundred metres are to be tested in operation in Switzerland for three years, but other countries are already interested in the technology.

Five years ago, Joseph Scuderi was waiting for a train in Renens, west of Lausanne, when he had an idea: why not make use of the unused space between railway tracks? At the end of April, Scuderi and his start-up Sun-Ways officially commissioned the first hundred metres of solar panels installed on railway tracks in Buttes, a small village in the canton of Neuchâtel in the west of the country, swissinfo.ch reported.

You can read the full article HERE.

6. European Commission: EU needs to invest hundreds of billions of euros in nuclear power

On Friday, 13 June, the European Commission published a report examining the current state and future of nuclear energy in the EU. According to the document, planned expansion of nuclear generating capacity in member states will require investment of 241 billion euros. The Commission said new financial instruments will be needed to reduce the risks these projects pose to the private sector, Reuters reported.

The Illustrative Nuclear Programme (PINC), which the European Commission publishes every few years under the Euratom Treaty, summarizes the current state and outlook for nuclear energy in the EU. The document serves as a strategic framework, mapping investment needs, planned projects and challenges related to safety, waste management and research through to 2050. According to the current draft PINC, nuclear energy will continue to play an important role in the EU’s energy mix, particularly in member states that choose to use it. The Commission also highlights the ageing nuclear fleet and the need for massive investment of up to 770 billion euros to cover reactor upgrades, decommissioning, long-term waste storage and the construction of new facilities. Particular attention is given to supporting research and development into new technologies such as small modular reactors (SMRs), and to the need to maintain European expertise amid competition from rapidly growing markets outside the EU.

You can read the full article HERE.

7. Westinghouse could build a new nuclear power plant in Slovakia

Bratislava, 17 June (ČTK) – Slovakia is preparing an intergovernmental agreement with the United States under which US company Westinghouse would build a 1250-megawatt nuclear power plant in Slovakia. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico told reporters today.

As recently as last year, the government in Bratislava planned to launch a tender for a technology supplier for the proposed state-owned power plant.

You can read the full article HERE.

8. Spain’s REE blames power plant operators for late-April blackout

Energy company Red Eléctrica de España (REE), whose largest shareholder is the Spanish state, today rejected criticism from the government over the nationwide power outage in late April. According to a report published on Tuesday by Spain’s Ministry for the Ecological Transition, REE had no plan to adequately manage overvoltage. The energy company rejected this today, saying the power plant operators—Iberdrola, Endesa and Naturgy—were to blame, newspaper El Mundo reported.

REE, which manages Spain’s high-voltage grid, presented its own report today, challenging some of the conclusions in the government report. However, both reports agree that the outage was caused by overvoltage. REE rejects responsibility, though, and says the outage would not have occurred if conventional power plants (gas, coal and nuclear) had been operating properly. It also said that the system gave no warning of an impending collapse until half an hour before the outage.

You can read the full article HERE.

9. Spain has seen the most negative electricity prices this year, but another country leads over the long term

Negative prices have been most frequent in Spain this year, where this phenomenon has literally boomed in recent years. Spain saw its first negative price only last year. In previous years, electricity prices there were always zero or higher. Over the long term, however, Germany has had the most hours of negative prices, a phenomenon that has been occurring there for many years.

Negative prices are an increasingly common phenomenon in the European Union’s energy sector, although until recently they were completely unfamiliar in some countries. Their frequency has risen sharply, especially in recent years, particularly during the summer around midday, when solar power generation is high. These sources are also hit hardest by negative electricity prices. Their output loses value because they generate electricity mainly when demand is insufficient.

You can read the full article HERE.

10. Ukraine and Poland plan to double the capacity of their gas interconnector

The Polish and Ukrainian transmission system operators announced plans to nearly double gas transport capacity between the two countries. Ukraine currently needs to import more natural gas from abroad because domestic production has been curtailed by Russian attacks on its infrastructure. Increasing transport capacity over the long term, however, depends on the completion of infrastructure upgrades in Poland.

Ukraine significantly increased its natural gas imports from abroad this spring, mainly from Poland and Hungary. The reason is a decline in domestic production due to Russian attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure, including gas production facilities. Ukraine also faces relatively low gas stocks in underground storage, which it will need to replenish before the start of this year’s heating season.

You can read the full article HERE.