Netherlands

PV equipment supplier Tempress has announced the beginning of construction on a 400 kW installation close to its headquarters in the Netherlands, which will be the largest in Europe to feature glass-glass bifacial modules.

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.

Dutch government agencies Rijkswaterstaat and ProRail are making land and water surfaces available for the installation of ground-mounted and floating PV plants, as well as for projects from other renewable technologies.

The Netherlands-based equipment manufacturer will provide an unidentified solar cell maker in China with a 200 MW production line. The supply agreement includes the possible expansion of the line to 1 GW. The equipment will produce n-type crystalline-silicon cells for bifacial modules.

The Dutch science-based company has announced plans to expand its product portfolio for solar, with the acquisition of China based Suzhou SunShine New Materials Technology (Sunshine), a manufacturer of PV backsheets.

The Dutch subsidiary of Swedish energy giants Vattenfall has announced plans to add 70 MW of PV capacity at six windfarms located across the country. Plans to include storage applications at at least one of the sites are also in the works.

New car registrations across Britain hit a 12-year high last month, with electric vehicles (EVs) accounting for 4.2% of that figure – a one-fifth increase on the previous month.

The German solar developer announced operation of the 30 MW Sunport Delfzijl Solar Park in the Delflzijler harbor area, close to the Dutch city of Groningen.