Sandra Enkhardt
Swiss startup makes first attempt to deploy solar on railways
Swiss startup Sun-Ways has developed a patented solution under which it directly rolls out solar modules between railway tracks like a carpet. The panels can be removed at any time for maintenance work.
Austria allocates $650 million for solar incentives in 2023
Austria is ramping up its budget to support solar, on top of new measures aimed at simplifying approval processes for the deployment of PV systems.
Global solar capacity additions hit 268 GW in 2022, says BNEF
BloombergNEF Analyst Jenny Chase says the world installed 268 GW of new solar capacity in 2022, with annual installations expected to hit 315 GW in 2023. In a recent interview with pv magazine, Chase pointed to a large backlog of delivered PV modules in Europe that still have yet to be installed.
Germany allocates 104 MW of rooftop solar in unsubscribed auction
Germany’s latest solar auction allocated 104 MW of solar for buildings and noise barriers on motorways. The tender volume was 202 MW which went partly unsubscribed. The volume-weighted average award value fell slightly to €0.0874 ($0.093)/kWh.
Meyer Burger to commercialize 29.6%-efficient perovskite tandem solar cells
Meyer Burger is working with several research institutes in Switzerland and Germany to integrate perovskite tandem technology into its manufacturing processes.
Energetica resumes solar module production
Austrian module manufacturer Energetica has restarted production, following its acquisition by IRMA Power.
Germany slashes VAT for residential PV to 0%
The German parliament has approved a new package of tax breaks for rooftop PV, including a value-added tax exemption for PV systems up to 30 kW in size.
Germany allocates 609 MW in tender for large-scale solar
Germany concluded its latest renewables tender with a final average price of €0.0580 ($0.06)/kWh, which is slightly higher than the €0.0510 level from the last such exercise. Bids ranged from €0.0520/kWh to €0.0590/kWh.
Germany likely installed 220,000 new residential solar batteries in 2022, says EUPD Research
EUPD Research said that Germany’s residential storage market more than doubled year on year in 2022. It noted that BYD has surpassed Sonnen to become the leading battery supplier.
REC scraps plan to build 4 GW solar module factory in France
REC says it has dropped its plans to set up a factory in France due to “various market changes.” It wanted to invest €680 million ($716 million) to produce heterojunction solar modules in the town of Hambach.
