Europe

Seven PV plants being planned by Solaria have received direct backing from the European Investment Bank, with the EU lender also the source of a €14 million loan to Natixis which will be passed on to the Spanish developer.

Solar contributed 28% of the U.K.’s total renewable energy generation, which was dominated by wind power. The proportion of fossil fuels in the energy mix fell to a record low last year, at 37.7%.

The controlling shareholder of Russian PV manufacturer Hevel Solar says it has started construction on a gigafactory to manufacture solar ingots, wafers and heterojunction (HJT) cells in the Kaliningrad exclave of Russia, between Lithuania and Poland.

The Swiss group has acquired an integrated solar roof system solution from an unidentified German engineering service provider for this purpose. The aim is grow this sector from a niche market.

Paris intends to secure 34 GW of solar, onshore wind and hydroelectric generation capacity by 2026 by offering generators premium payments – determined by competitive reverse-bidding among developers – to top-up the market electricity price.

The latest update to the Photovoltaics Report produced by research organization the Fraunhofer ISE has offered up the usual slew of interesting stats on the state of solar across the continent.

The TotalEnergies-controlled solar manufacturer will secure an, as yet undetermined chunk of a new €118.6 million low-carbon innovation fund to start producing its frameless, glass-free solar roofing products at Porcelette, in northeastern France.

The developer secured a ten-year power purchase agreement from Statkraft in June last year for almost all of the power expected to be generated by the unsubsidized plant in southwestern Spain.

With Australia prepping plans for vast green hydrogen and ammonia production facilities, two of the country’s state governments are trying to drum up the end-user market as agreements are signed to drive use of the gas in Ukraine and Poland.

Last week’s announcement Oxford PV wants to wind up its “exclusive cooperation” with Meyer Burger after the fit out of its 100 MW German factory points to a potential divergence in strategies. And with Meyer Burger considering legal action in response, it could result in a messy, disruptive separation.