pv magazine has learned that five solar-related fires in Germany and Austria occurred in late September. Photographs show that two of the blazes were likely caused by residential batteries manufactured by LG.

1Komma5° says it plans to start production at a new TOPCon solar module factory in Germany from next year. The Hamburg-based startup aims to achieve an annual production capacity of 1 GW, with further expansion targets set to reach 5 GW by the year 2030.

The Luxembourg Ministry of Energy has allocated 52.7 MW in an agrivoltaics tender. While the final prices from the procurement exercise have not been disclosed, the ministry said it considered ecological and agricultural factors.

Solar module prices have hit a new low in recent months, due to market forces that SolarPower Europe describes as a “perfect storm.” The European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) says domestic solar module production fell from 9 GW in 2022 to 1 GW this year, with production now almost at a standstill. The associations say that urgent action is needed to prevent a potential wave of insolvencies in Europe.

Shell, which acquired Sonnen four years ago, is now actively seeking a majority shareholder for the Germany storage system specialist.

Fraunhofer ISE is helping Holosolis to build Europe’s largest PV factory – a 5 GW solar plant in France – by 2025. The German research institute is providing support in technology selection and factory planning.

Germany’s Voltfang has developed outdoor stationary storage systems featuring recycled electric-vehicle batteries with capacities ranging from 33 kWh to 644 kWh.

Verbraucherzentrale NRW, a German consumer protection association, has issued a warning about five misleading assumptions about PV-linked residential battery systems.

Germany’s latest auction for utility-scale solar concluded with prices ranging from €0.0539 ($0.0588)/kWh to €0.0665/kWh. The procurement exercise was significantly oversubscribed.

Germany deployed 1.2 GW of new solar capacity in July, contributing to a 7.69 GW expansion in total new PV capacity for the first seven months of 2023. By the end of July, the nation’s cumulative installed solar capacity had surged to 75.17 GW.