Genera 2018, held this June 13 to 15 in Madrid, Spain, set the scene for a market that is once again on track to become Europe’s solar leader. This year, reflecting this positive progress, the Spanish renewable energy fair saw the share of solar exhibitors increase over previous years. While this transition year is not expected to record strong solar growth, 2019 could realistically see the installation of 3 GW. Read on to discover the four key takeaways from this year’s event.

Hevel Solar and Fortum won the 148.5 MW worth of solar PV projects awarded in the auction. The Finnish utility, however, proposed a project CAPEX, which was almost half that of the Russian company’s.

With her first official announcement, Spain’s incoming Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera has made it clear that the previous government’s reviled tax on distributed generation array, the so-called ‘sun tax’ will be eliminated. At the same time, she has confirmed her support for more ambitious EU renewable energy targets.

The utility’s renewable energy unit PGE EO has announced the construction of a PV laboratory and a solar module field test in Siedlce. The move is part of its plan to invest in solar parks up to 1 MW under Poland’s auction mechanism.

According to the EU Commissioner for Energy and Climate Action, Arias Cañete, negotiations among all EU members on final target are still ongoing, and face several issues.

Through the joint call, the European organization is seeking to provide financial backing for, among other PV and CSP technologies, high-performance crystalline silicon and thin film technologies which can increase module efficiency and decrease turn-key system costs.

The new tenders, which will be open to both domestic and international players, will select grid-connected IPP projects totaling 150 MW and off-grid hybrid gas/diesel and solar projects with a combined capacity of 50 MW.

After awarding two hybrid solar projects to China’s Shuangdeng Group and India’s Waare in late May, the Afghan government has now launched a new bid for a 5 MW hybrid solar plant in Ghor province.

Two PV plants totaling 83 MW will be constructed by the Norwegian developer in the Cherkassy region.

The market research company expects the Chinese market will decline by 15 GW this. Part of this slow-down, however, will be off-set by lower module prices and accelerated demand across markets with pent-up demand. Furthermore, it forecasts another wave of oversupply, low profitability and consolidation in the industry.