Valoe Corporation has extended its €3.5m convertible bonds issuance but with investors fleeing to safe havens and Lithuania yesterday announcing COVID-19 quarantine measures, hopes of getting cell manufacturing off the ground in Vilnius this month appear unrealistic.

A convertible bond issuance by Valoe Corp is due to expire on Sunday and the board has already been forced to sign up for more than 40% of the investment. The module maker, which is still attempting to pay for a cell line acquired from Solitek last year, has been announced as a technology partner by Munich-based Sono Motors.

The Chinese manufacturer had not updated its English-speaking investors since October and now appears set to have its chief Chinese operations taken over by creditors.

The move has been welcomed as a step in the right direction by lobby group SolarPower Europe nevertheless, particularly as it envisages bringing together EU low-carbon businesses. The outline ambition will now be considered by the European Parliament.

The UK Solar Trade Association has laid out its wish list ahead of new chancellor Rishi Sunak’s first budget speech tomorrow, with an exemption of solar from onerous tax valuations top of the agenda. COVID-19 measures, though, are likely to cast everything else into the shade.

The Climate Investment Platform launched by three multilateral bodies in September is now open for business and renewables companies in developing nations could qualify for help with clean energy facilities, renewables-related grid improvements and energy efficiency schemes.

The announcement by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy of an auction which will include solar next year appears to back prime minister Boris Johnson’s claims to be serious about the nation’s net-zero carbon ambition.

Ganfeng Lithium blamed a falling lithium salt price for its expected woes, rather than the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on operations which it spelled out last month.

The proposed acquisition by state-owned China Huaneng of 294 MW of GCL project capacity in China has been delayed a second time.

Researchers led by Belgian institute imec claim to have achieved the result with a 1cm² perovskite tandem solar cell. The result tops the 24.6% efficiency the consortium announced in September 2018. The cell’s developers are now aiming for 30%.