The Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin (ISFH), the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Institute for Materials and Components in Electronics at the University of Hannover, as well as Centrotherm, Singulus, Meyer Burger and Von Ardenne are involved in a research project aimed at achieving a 27% conversion efficiency for silicon solar cells based on perovskite.

German utility RWE will sell solar electricity to the German conglomerate under a 16-year power purchase agreement. The electricity will be generated by a 50 MW solar plant in southern Germany. Bosch has also sealed power supply deals with Statkraft and Vattenfall.

Federal network agency the Bundesnetzagentur has announced it will retire 4 GW of coal-fired generation capacity through the exercise, which will see plant operators compete to secure one-off payments in return for shuttering, or converting operations.

Creditors of SolarWorld Industries have approved the sale of a production facility to Meyer Burger. The Swiss tech group plans to manufacture highly efficient solar modules at the plant.

June installations brought first-half capacity additions to 2.36 GW, as Europe’s largest solar market largely shrugged off the impact of the pandemic.

The federal network agency allocated 96.3 MW of solar in a procurement round which saw the solar power price nudge up slightly.

Researchers at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Systems and Device Technology IISB are trying to understand the causes of light and elevated temperature induced degradation (LeTID) in PERC solar cells. Initial investigations should provide a comprehensive understanding of the process and material dependency of LeTID and related degradation effects in monocrystalline and multicrystalline PERC solar cells.

The German manufacturer secured around 60% of the turnover expected this year in the first three months alone but still posted a net loss for a company relying on strong pre-Covid-19 activity in the U.S. and European markets.

Interfloat Corporation, a European market leader for solar glass, has been bought by Holzverarbeiter HS Timber Group and Blue Minds.

The European Commission today officially presented its Green Deal bill. Though the law has been welcomed in principle by environmental organizations, the provisions are not seen to be ambitious or concrete enough – and 12 EU member states already want to speed up decarbonization.