27 bids with a total capacity of 163 MW won contracts in the tender, with the lowest bid as low as EUR 0.0626 per kWh. The tender was, however, largely oversubscribed.

After ten years heading one of the world’s leading solar energy research institutes, Eicke Weber has announced his retirement from Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE as of the end of the year. It is not known who his replacement will be.

The German solar manufacturer will begin shedding workers employed on temporary contracts in the fourth quarter in response to fierce price pressure in the global solar markets. Permanent employees will not be initially affected.

After a short uptick in installations in June, Germany has recorded another weak month for solar PV installations. The Federal Network Agency has reported that on 81.6 MW were installed for the month.

A revision request has now been received by the appropriate court in Michigan. SolarWorld has meanwhile filled further protective letters against Hemlock to various courts in Germany, as a precaution to prevent possible enforcement of any penalty in Germany. SolarWorld CEO Frank Asbeck is confident that the U.S. silicon manufacturer will not receive recognition of any judgements in German courts.

Lerri Solar, DelSolar, CNPV, Motech and Xian Longi have all been withdrawn from the Minimum Import Price (MIP) undertaking measures agreed between China and the European Commission, the EU has confirmed.

Solarworld CEO Frank Asbeck speaks to pv magazine in his first extensive interview on the recent finding against the company in its legal dispute with Hemlock Semiconductor. A supremely confident Asbeck explains why he doesn’t think the judge’s decision changes the case at hand, while still expecting a settlement with Hemlock, and why any final decision will not affect the company’s American subsidiary nor the German company.

Wacker Chemie expects EBITA to come in at the upper of its forecast in 2016, as higher Q2 sales trigger increased revenues on a YoY basis.

Germany’s slumping PV market shows no signs of a turnaround, with only 100 MW of PV being installed in May. 3,100 solar systems were grid connected in Germany during the month, with the country crawling past the significant 40 GW installed capacity figure.

The German Federal Cabinet has approved a draft of the EEG, which will see a tender for PV projects larger than 750 kWp, with 600 MW of large scale solar capacity to be tendered annually. The German Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar) has reacted positively to the tender, but slammed moves to introduce a tax on solar electricity consumed on-site.