Eastern Europe

Russia’s Hevel Solar has achieved 21.75% cell efficiency after upgrading to heterojunction (HJT) technology. Hevel says that its fab will have a capacity of 160 MW when completed.

The European Commission’s proposal to extend the anti-dumping measures for Chinese PV manufacturers by a year and a half has been put to the mediation committee. The final decision will be published on 4th March. A proposal to extend the measures by only 12 months also failed in the Appeals Committee.

Four men have been arrested on suspicion of theft, after an extensive investigation by German and Polish Police forces. The men are said to have broken into solar parks in several German states in order to steal modules and inverters.

European Commission VP Frans Timmermans says new 18 month tariff period proposal will be put to the 28 EU Member States later this month. SolarPower Europe says move goes in right direction, but could go further.

Leaked document seen by Reuters allegedly outlines proposals by the European Commission to reduce the recently extended anti-dumping duties against Chinese solar companies from 24 to 18 months.

While global solar power demand increased 50%, new European installations were down 20% compared to 2015, falling to 6.9 GW of new capacity on the continent.

More than 40 companies have expressed interested in a tender for the construction of a 50 MW solar power plant in Armenia. The project is a part of a US$58 million program to boost renewable energy in the country.

More than three decades after the catastrophic Chernobyl meltdown, the plan to use the nuclear wasteland for solar energy is slowly taking shape.

The conflict between the two organizations goes beyond policy approaches, with EU ProSun stating that SolarWorld was never contacted for information.

In 2017, 54 new solar projects with a total capacity of 460 MW will be implemented enabling the country to exceed 1 GW of installed PV plants.