Eastern Europe

The government of the Russian region of Astrakhan announced that work on the first large-scale PV plant in the area has begun. Completion on the 15 MW project, which is being developed by local developer Solar Systems, is scheduled for the third quarter of this year.

The Chinese integrated PV manufacturer and developer currently has 335 MW of solar capacity under construction in seven countries, with plans to finish 550 MW by the end of the year.

The Norwegian solar developer is considering the construction of two PV plants totalling 60 MW in Ukraine. The company is discussing opportunities with local deputy Minister of Energy.

Romania’s solar market registered a slight drop in new installations in 2016. Approximately 70 MW was installed last year. This capacity is represented by MW-scale PV projects developed under the green certificate scheme launched in 2011.

The European solar market decreased by 21% last year. This disappointing if not unexpected news opened SolarPower Europe’s annual summit in Brussels today. Grid integration of Europe’s solar capacity, EU market rules for protecting the ‘prosumer’ and reforms to the continent’s faltering Emissions Trading Scheme were major themes during the plenary session.

The Russian solar company has connected to the grid four large-scale PV plants in Russia. Its solar operational capacity in the country has now reached 75 MW.

On Friday, the EU published in its Official Journal the 18-month extension of antidumping and anti-subsidy duties on Chinese solar products, including notification of a partial interim review of the measures. The review could lead to the gradual reduction of duties and minimum import prices. The EU will also consider if the Minimum Price Undertaking agreement is still of relevance.

Investments in distributed solar made by North American and European utilities have reached an aggregate value of $297 million to date. North American power providers seem to be more confident on distributed solar, but European companies are investing more heavily in all distributed energy segments.

Israeli headquartered power electronics specialist SolarEdge has announced that it is rolling out a complete solution for residential PV, consisting of inverter, storage and home automation system.

The European Union will see an extension to hotly contested duties on Chinese PV exporters by 18 months. A spokesperson for the European Commission confirmed the move with pv magazine today, adding that the duties will be phased out, in line with industry cost reductions.