On Friday, the EU published in its Official Journal the 18-month extension of antidumping and anti-subsidy duties on Chinese solar products, including notification of a partial interim review of the measures. The review could lead to the gradual reduction of duties and minimum import prices. The EU will also consider if the Minimum Price Undertaking agreement is still of relevance.

The 18-month extension to antidumping (AD) and anti-subsidy duties applied to Chinese solar exports has caused mixed reactions within the industry. The measure should be published on the EU Official Journal by the end of this week.

Germany has registered 117 MW of new PV installations in January. The country’s cumulative PV capacity has reached approximately 41.34 GW.

The Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxemburg this week confirmed the validity of the import duties, rejecting all complaints from 26 PV manufacturers. In the opinion of the judges the measures are necessary to compensate damage caused to the European solar industry by dumped imports from China.

The European Commission’s proposal to extend the anti-dumping measures for Chinese PV manufacturers by a year and a half has been put to the mediation committee. The final decision will be published on 4th March. A proposal to extend the measures by only 12 months also failed in the Appeals Committee.

Four men have been arrested on suspicion of theft, after an extensive investigation by German and Polish Police forces. The men are said to have broken into solar parks in several German states in order to steal modules and inverters.

Germany’s Federal Network Agency has awarded 38 bids in the first PV tender under the EEG 2017. The average bid price fell lower than the pilot tenders, reaching €0.0658 per kWh.

The firm is considering concentrating all of its German cell production capacity at Arnstadt, shifting volume from Freiberg where wafer production is poised to be scaled up.

End of year surge in installations pushes annual total towards 1.5 GW – a slightly higher figure than that recorded in 2015. Tumbling module costs in Europe have aided this upturn, with small-scale solar installations predominant.

A declaration of intent has been signed by both parties. Renusol is set to be passed on as a brand and product to Parigroup, which already has a good working relationship with the PV assembly company.