Here are some noteworthy cleantech announcements of the day from around the world:

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has announced a new venture to prioritize energy storage across policy advocacy, membership, research, and events. Called the Storage Advocacy Network, the venture will be a formal branch of SEIA and serve as a national and state advocacy voice for energy storage. Through collaboration with various SEIA committees, the Storage Advocacy Network will shape the organization’s lobbying and public affairs advocacy on energy storage. The program aims to strengthen policies of the multibillion-dollar cleantech sector to ensure stakeholders maximize their growth in the solar sector.

German energy company RWE has launched Pembroke Net-Zero Center (PNZC) as part of its decarbonization initiative. The PNZC program will draw on the extensive knowledge and expertise from across RWE’s offshore wind, gas-fired generation, and hydrogen businesses to cut down on carbon emissions. The PNZC will work with RWE experts across the Welsh, U.K., and international businesses in renewables generation, and trading, looking at deploying state-of-the-art technologies to help decarbonize the region and support Wales’ roadmap to net-zero by 2050.

The European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) has alerted the European Commission on prioritizing PV manufacturing in the region. The Council noted that only four member states – Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Poland – included PV manufacturing among the potential support areas. The Council pointed out that ignoring PV manufacturing would lead to importing the hardware needed for the green shift. The ESMC fears that this could create a new form of energy dependency, which will weaken Europe’s control over its energy transition. The ESMC asked the member states to not lose their PV manufacturing opportunity during the ongoing recovery and resilience plan assessment and before its approval.

HydrogenPro, H2V Industry, and Mitsubishi Power Europe have entered into a memorandum of understanding to form a consortium that will develop and deliver green hydrogen projects in Europe. The pact is aimed at supporting the European and French initiatives to reach the decarbonization goals. Through the latest agreement, the partners will develop and deliver large-scale hydrogen projects. The current projects are founded on HydrogenPro’s 100 MW high-pressure modular system. H2V Industry will take on a lead role in the development phase, whereas HydrogenPro and Mitsubishi Power Europe will contribute with their expertise in the design, engineering, system, and components, as well as their procurement competence.

RWE Renewables, Equinor, and Hydro REIN have signed a collaboration agreement for offshore wind in Norway. The partners will prepare and apply to the Norwegian authorities to develop a large-scale bottom-fixed offshore wind farm in the Sørlige Nordsjø II area in the Norwegian North Sea. The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has opened two areas for offshore renewables (Utsira Nord and Sørlige Nordsjø II) and is currently working on the licensing process for offshore wind projects in Norway.

Srinwanti is a copy editor at Mercom India, where she writes and edits news stories across the clean energy spectrum. Prior to Mercom, she has worked in book publishing at Macmillan Publishing House and Integra and honed her editorial and writing skills in both online and print media such as Reuters, Times Group Books, The Times of India, and Pune Mirror, covering local to international stories. More articles from Srinwanti Das.