Poland

The Verbraucherzentrale NRW says advertising for the Solstråle solar system is misleading and has warned the furniture provider and its partner Solarcentury Microgen (Deutschland) GmbH it will begin legal action if the campaign is not changed.

Only 36% of the 360 MW of capacity allocated in Poland’s first two solar auctions is grid connected, according to research institute the IEO. With the completion deadline for the first exercise having expired last year, there is also little time left for developers selected in the second auction to finalize projects. In three auctions held by the Polish government, a combined capacity of 870 MW has been allocated.

The company has received financial support of PLN 50 million ($13 million) for the project from the Polish national development bank. The facility will produce BIPV cells and panels based on ML System’s quantum dots technology.

Automaker Volkswagen and Swedish lithium-ion battery producer Northvolt have announced plans to jointly form and lead a new organization, the European Battery Union (EBU), to conduct research on batteries used in transport and stationary energy storage applications.

With more than 200 MW of newly installed PV, 2018 was a record year for Polish solar. Of the nation’s total PV capacity, 339.5 MW comes from 50 kW or smaller arrays.

Considering the remarkable advances made by the solar sector since the Rio ‘Earth Summit’ of 1992, PV was notable by its absence at the Convention of Parties climate change summit held by the UN in Poland.

French-backed institutional investor Eiffel Energy Transition Group will finance almost 100 MW of new solar capacity in the central European nations after signing a deal with the Chinese developer.

Companies in the United States accounted for more than 60% of the clean energy deals signed by corporations worldwide last year, according to BloombergNEF. A proposed renewable portfolio standard for Chinese business, though, could turn the picture upside down in a year’s time.

The energy giant’s finance subsidiary placed a bond in Europe to finance its renewable energy and infrastructure projects and secured 70% of Poland’s demand response capacity market for the 2021-2023 period, in the first auctions of their kind in the nation.

More than a dozen European ministers of economic affairs have released a statement setting out the next steps to turn Europe into an industrial hub for large-scale cell production. The role of SMEs and competition was highlighted as ministers said European cells should provide innovation in terms of raw material use and sustainability, hinting at a pivot away from lithium-ion.