Highlights

The UK cabinet plans to introduce a new measure to eliminate the value-added tax (VAT) on residential batteries installed after solar panels.

Poland added around 4.7 GW of new PV capacity in 2022, according to new data from research institute IEO. It predicts that 2023 could be another record year, thanks to another 6 GW of new solar power.

The Italian authorities have allocated 368.2 MW of renewables capacity in the nation’s latest procurement exercise for clean energy. Developers have offered a maximum discount ranging between 2% and 2.8% from the auction ceiling price of €0.065 ($0.070)/kWh.

The mayor of Bilbao, Spain, has attributed the recent collapse of a local sports center’s roof to heavy rains and the presence of numerous solar panels, according to local news outlets.

The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has published a new report focusing on core benchmarks for PV prices, deployment, and imports.

First Solar has agreed to pay $38 million to buy Swedish manufacturing startup Evolar AB, as it seeks to expand development of high-efficiency tandem PV tech.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Energy has announced that a BGN 240 million ($134 million) rebate scheme is now open for applications from households seeking to install solar water heating systems and rooftop PV arrays, potentially coupled with battery energy storage systems.

Kaneka’s two-terminal tandem perovskite solar cell has achieved the highest efficiency ever recorded for such a device based on an industrial Czochralski (CZ) silicon wafer. It has an open-circuit voltage of 1.929 V, a short-circuit current density of 19.5 mA cm−2, and a fill factor of 77.55%.

Sales of gas and oil heating systems are also increasing, however, as the current figures from the Federation of German Heating Industry show. Overall, the market grew by 38% to 306,500 new heaters sold. However, the German Renewable Energy Federation warns against postponing the country’s Building Energy Act requirements to 2027.