Europe

In a stormy hearing last week, Spanish commissioner-designate for energy and climate action Miguel Arias Cañete sought to dodge questions about his oil industry past and provided only vague answers to questions about energy and climate protection policy. His candidacy could be in danger.

The fund plans to acquire two PV plants with a combined capacity of 74 MW and expects to continue acquisitions of plants below and above 5 MW following the introduction of next year’s CfD scheme.

The increased budget will be split between the various renewable energy technologies bidding for subsidy support. The country’s Solar Trade Association says the government’s decisions “represent serious tragic mistakes in energy policy.”

ANIE Rinnovabili, the country’s solar PV sector voice, is weighing actions against the feed-in tariff (FIT) cuts recently imposed to existing photovoltaic installations. Tariff reductions were absolutely unnecessary, the energy association says.

pv magazine’s Ilias Tsagas argues that should Scotland’s population vote today in favor of independence, this will not hurt its renewable energy sector but might give it a further boost.

Italy has raised the upper limit for net metering in the country from 200 kW to 500 kW per installation. The measure is set to boost the commercial rooftop PV sector.

Solar boat MS Turanor PlanetSolar has become a research vessel for archaeological expeditions in Greece. The catamaran completed a round-the-world trip in 2012 powered only by sun.

Chinese premier Li Keqiang’s three-day visit to Athens coincided with trade agreements that could be worth up to $8.8bn for Greece’s beleaguered economy. Investments in Piraeus port and the Greek railway network could be followed by Chinese PV fabs on Greek soil.

The solar asset manager expects to double its operational capacity in the U.K. in the next twelve months to some 200 MW. It’s latest acquisition includes the 37 MW Kencot, Oxfordshire, PV farm.