Belgium

Belgium becomes the fifth country worldwide where the Swedish furniture retailer is to sell solar panels after the UK, Poland, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Because biomass is not performing as expected, the Belgian Flemish-speaking region has raised by one third its EU targets for solar and wind, and has improved investment conditions for commercial and industrial PV.

Under the Qualiwatt program, homeowners operating a rooftop PV system of up to 10 KW are entitled to have a deduction on their power bill that is proportionate to the household income.

Belgian research institute Imec has achieved a conversion efficiency of 23.9% on a perovskite/silicon tandem module measuring 4 square centimeters. This efficiency level, according to Imec, represents the first time such a stacked configuration has outperformed a standalone silicon solar cell.

The Minister of Energy of the Flanders hopes that another 6.4 million solar modules can be installed in the region under his mandate until 2020.

The energy regulator of the Belgian French-speaking region has announced the grid-fee will come into force in 2020, and not in 2019 as previously planned. PV systems operators are expected to pay an annual fee ranging from €330 to €560.

A 2.2 MW rooftop PV array was installed on Nike’s distribution center in Ham. The facility will cover up to 15% of the building’s energy needs.

Once a leading solar market, the Belgian macro-region of Flanders keeps showing signs of robust growth in new installations in the first five months of this year, after installing 103 MW of solar in 2016.

Ducatt had to start insolvency proceedings due to the insolvency of German solar module manufacturer SolarWorld. Around 50% of Ducatt’s revenue came from orders placed by SolarWorld, as reported by local media.

According to a scientific paper from the Université libre de Bruxelles, even a further reduction in storage prices may not be sufficient to make solar-plus-storage attractive in the Belgian market.