Policy

Pope Francis held a closed door meeting at the Academy of Sciences with the CEOs of oil firms and investment firms to address climate change, with a group committing to support an “economically meaningful” carbon price.

Reports about a leaked document suggest that Germany, Italy, Greece and Slovakia have joined a group of EU member states that support a carbon neutrality bill. Germany refused to support such plans in March, but with political support for the German Green Party skyrocketing, Chancellor Angela Merkel is likely to revise her government’s position. With Germany now on the ticket, a plan could be finalized at some point this year.

The Trump administration is acknowledging global demand for clean energy and energy storage with the US State Department’s new strategy.

The €5.4 billion program is expected to spur new growth in large scale PV while also providing incentives for rooftop systems. Originally scheduled for January, the country’s first technology neutral clean energy auctions – which will provide additional incentives EV charging-linked projects – may be held in the months ahead.

The nation’s renewable energy legislation will be updated to expand net metering for projects connected to the medium voltage grid, paving the way for a wave of decentralized installations.

The Norwegian manufacturer has delayed full shutdown of its U.S. polysilicon operation until mid July as President Trump and his Chinese counterpart are scheduled to hold talks in Osaka in two weeks’ time.

An energy finance consultant from the international thinktank has added his voice to demands Theresa May, or her successor, spell out exactly how the decarbonization target will be met, and cited failings on solar as a warning on how not to proceed.

Initially, the company will construct a 16 GWh factory plus a joint venture fab with Volkswagen in Germany, which will also have a throughput of 16 GWh. Both factories could be extended to tap further into the large market for battery cells in Europe.

It is not just the big beasts of Chinese solar that are investing in aggressive expansion as high-efficiency wafer maker NorSun and tracker supplier GameChange Solar make big announcements. The New York company, however, may fall foul of President Trump’s America First trade mantra by opening production lines in the Far East.

Stock in the polysilicon manufacturer appeared to be recovering in early trading on the Oslo exchange this morning after it cancelled plans for a private placement of as many as 50 million shares.