Europe

The French energy giant is offering to acquire Innogy, the renewable energy unit of German power provider RWE. Innogy acquired German developer Belectric and its huge solar power plant portfolio in January.

German car maker BMW will provide Vattenfall with 1,000 lithium-ion car batteries. Vattenfall will use the batteries, which are also used for the vehicle BMW i3, for storage projects at wind farms.

The Italian PV market maintains its path of stable growth in January with approximately 25.7 MW in new systems. Meanwhile, the local government agency GSE has published new rules for the revamping and repowering of existing installations. The Italian renewable energy sector believes that the new rules will create new business opportunities for both solar manufacturers and developers.

The Polish solar market has seen its largest growth in 2016 with approximately 94 MW in new installations. The country’s cumulative installed PV power had reached 192 MW at the end of December. A more stable regulatory framework is giving investors more confidence.

The independent power producer recorded a net loss of $110.4 million from its continuing operations — up sharply from $27.5 million a year earlier — due to impairment expenses totalling $75.7 million, in addition to a net deferred tax write-off of $6.9 million.

German equipment supplier Asys today announced the launch of its new dual lane metallization line for crystalline silicon cell production, Alignus 1.5s. The line features a high level of automation, as part of the company’s Industry 4.0 approach, and aims to decrease cell metallization process times.

The increase in new installations was mainly due to a 40% drop in prices over the past three years. German solar association Bundesverbands Solarwirtschaft expects their number will double to 100,000 in 2018.

A research team from the SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Centre at Swansea University has developed a method that could lead to efficiency improvements in CZTS solar cells.

The Dutch market keeps showing signs of sustained growth. Estimated new installed PV power for 2016 is expected to surpass 500 MW, while another 600 MW is forecast for this year. Several PV projects developed under the SDE+ program for large-scale renewable energy projects began to come online in the past months.

The Dutch, Belgian and German R&D partnership sets world record for roll-to-roll perovskite/based solar cells, working alongside Dyesol, VDL Enabling Technologies Group, Smit Thermal Solutions and Bosch-Rexroth.