German power distributor Energy2market intends to develop its international activity under its new French owner. The founding shareholders and Trailstone UK will sell their stock to EDF subsidiary Pulse Croissance.

The Chinese PV manufacturer uses TOPCon half cells for the modules. The additional rear side yield is estimated by Trina at 5-30%.

German customs officers executed two arrest warrants during the Smarter E show in Munich. The public prosecutor’s office in Nuremberg-Fürth also confirmed another arrest, connected to an existing investigation of a Chinese PV manufacturer. The arrested executives were allegedly involved in commercial smuggling of solar modules, the customs authorities and prosecutor told pv magazine. The authorities believe minimum import prices for crystalline solar modules from China, in effect until September, were circumvented and millions of euros in payments were evaded.

The former director of Fraunhofer ISE will be officially elected at a general assembly planned for September. The ESCM wants a strong Europe to be part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and also pay attention to sustainability.

The annual expansion of photovoltaics throughout the world surpassed the 100 GW mark last year. The multi-terawatt market is looming on the horizon and PV is becoming a “game changer” in the global energy system in five specific areas, according to a consortium of research institutes.

In the first four months of the year, over 1.6 GW of solar power generation capacity came online in the country. Next month the FITs for rooftop PV will fall by 1.4%.

The two companies have glued 230 square meters of solar film to the rough concrete surface of a grain silo in Donauwörth, Germany. The film is expected to generate approximately 6,700 kWh kilowatt-hours of solar power per year. Lechwerke and Heliatek want to open up new potential for the use of PV on other surfaces with the pilot project.

The companies have invested €17 million in the project. The energy stored, in the Brandenburg project, will be used to stabilize the grid and minimize the curtailment of wind farms.

The sustainable projects lender wants to become a pioneer in the financing of unsubsidized PV ground mounted systems. The loans have a term of 25 years and operators need a PPA with at least five years’ maturity at a fixed price.

The 8.8 MW project, in Mecklenburg-Pomerania, will sell power to industrial customers through a long-term PPA. Construction is expected to begin in June.