Panorama

The Intersolar Europe trade show continues on Thursday in Munich with some exhibitors reporting reduced traffic on last year. However, a significant level of optimism remains.

Swedish dye-sensitised solar startup Exeger pursues its strategy to reach scale with its organic PV technology through the consumer electronics market and in particular the fast-growing wearables sector.

The duties would be applied to both solar panels and cells and effectively close a loophole that allowed Chinese manufacturers to bypass import tariffs by using non-Chinese solar cells in their panels.

Some $40 trillion of the cumulative sum is slated for energy supply, including $23 trillion for fossil fuel extraction, transport and refining. Almost $10 trillion will go to power generation, including $6 trillion for renewables.

While the Turkish government is on track to build its first nuclear power plant and a massive new coal-fired facility, the World Bank sees great “renewable potential” in the country.

Finance Minister Hani Kadri Demian: “We are seriously working on adopting any project enabling Egypt to use renewable energy and achieve extreme savings in fuels.”

The Bavarian company has teamed up with a local partner to set up a PV module fab in the North African country.

The Ankara government has capped its incentive program at 600 MW of new PV plants. It has now awarded the first two licenses. The remaining projects are expected to follow this year.

The White House has already invested $2 billion in energy efficiency in federal buildings and is now pledging an additional $2 billion by 2016, doubling the program, with much of the funding going into PV systems.

Equipped with Suntech modules, the Chinese giant and its German partner aim to build 900 MW of PV plants by 2015 in what has become Europe’s most dynamic solar market.