The world’s first high-altitude floating solar power plant continues to generate power above the lake in the Swiss Alps. This plant produces 50 percent more energy than those whose panels are found in lowland areas.

The solar power plant in Lac des Toules consists of 1,400 panels placed on 36 floating structures made of aluminum and polyethylene plastic fixed to the bottom of the lake.

Production of 800,000 kWh per year

“This pilot project generates 800,000 kWh per year, corresponding to the [needs] of 220 households,” says Maxime Ramstein, Project Manager at Romande Energie.

The mountainous conditions at an altitude of 1,810 meters above sea level make the sun’s rays stronger. The solar power plant is installed in a reservoir and not in a natural lake, which limits its environmental impact.

The technology found in the floating power plant is also an important part of the photovoltaic industry worldwide.

Ramstein also says that the problem of icing caused by cold weather is solved by draining the reserves that are filled due to melting snow in the spring and summer months.

The European Commission aims to make a large-scale solar power breakthrough and stimulate Europe’s solar industry accordingly.

According to the plan, a package of proposals will be published next week in order to reduce the dependency of member states on Russia. “Solar energy and heat are key to gradually end the EU’s dependence on Russian gas,” the draft text states.

Costs of solar panel cells have dropped more than 80 percent over the past decade, but the technology produced only 5 percent of EU electricity in 2020. The share of solar energy in heat production was only 1.5 percent.

With this plan, the “European Solar Roofs Initiative” will be launched against the risk of gas-fired electricity and heating cuts in homes, offices, shops, and factories.

All institutions will be required to take steps within a year

Ilan targets the roofs of institutional buildings of EU and national governments in the first place. These institutions will be required to take steps to use solar panels within a year.

This will force countries to use EU funds, launch support programs for roof panels and install solar in all eligible public buildings by 2025.

Another part of the plan is to bring governments and educational institutions together to focus on developing the competencies and skills of solar industry workers. To do this, create an “EU Solar Industry Alliance” and support manufacturing investments. Use the EU budget and the carbon market “innovation fund” for this support.

There are about 14 planned large-scale solar power generation projects in Europe, but some require billions of euros in financing to get them to market.

Chinese competition hinders the development of industry in Europe

China provided 75 percent of EU solar panel imports in 2020. Despite the EU applying anti-dumping and anti-subsidy controls to solar panels from China between 2013 and 2018, Europe is having a hard time competing with China with its own large-scale factories.

EU Greens MP Michael Bloss urges Brussels to get involved using legal means rather than voluntary schemes:

“Solar energy conversion has never been discussed in concrete terms. For example, new buildings may be legally required to have solar roofs on flat roofs, public buildings and supermarkets in Europe.”

The draft plan will also fine-tune EU law, accelerating the permitting period for renewable energy projects.

Scientists who have been working for decades to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and produce low-carbon energy are looking for solutions by creating an “artificial sun” in the world with nuclear fusion experiments.

Scientists are trying to combine hydrogen atoms and create helium by fusion by sending 140,000 amps of electricity to the hydrogen gas cloud. This fusion is the force that holds the sun together.

It is stated that such an experiment will not make the world the new sun of the solar system, but it can pave the way for cheap and clean energy. The challenge for scientists is to find a way to do this safely.

China announced that it is conducting a new experiment

China’s Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences is pursuing methods for nuclear fusion that go beyond just splitting atoms and creating power by combining nuclei. In other words, scientists are trying to “fit the sun in a box.”

With the Advanced Superconducting Tokamak Experiment, scientists at Hefei are trying to create an “artificial sun,” that is, a constant temperature as high as the sun. In this context, a new experiment was carried out.

An investment of nearly $900 million was made for the ring-shaped machines called a tokamak, where these experiments were produced. At extremely high temperatures, the Tokamak boils hydrogen isotopes into plasma and combines them to release energy.

China, which has been conducting fusion research since 1958, emphasizes that international cooperation is more important than the competition at this stage. China is a member of the “giant” nuclear fusion project ITER, which is being built in France. The project under construction in France has a budget of 10 billion euros.

China’s responsibility for this project is to produce the components needed for ITER to hold magnetic and withstand temperatures up to 100 million degrees Celsius. ITER, which plans to produce the first plasma in 2025, plans to build a sample reactor that will produce 500 megawatts of energy with 50 megawatts of power.