EU

The EU has been pouring money into European battery manufacturing and recycling projects but has, as yet, been unable to address the critical question of raw materials, according to analyst WoodMac.

The proposed measure, which will now pass to the Council of Ministers and European Parliament for debate, would further the adoption of PV, according to SolarPower Europe, especially if the commission’s proposal it be applied to public sector structures from 2027 is adopted.

Two projects in the northern region of the African nation are set to bring 36 MW of solar and 20 MW/19 MWh of storage online, with the first facilities due to start generating within days.

A spokesperson for London-based installer Winch said the subsidized, $0.29/kWh electricity the networks will offer to villagers is the lowest price for such a system anywhere in the world.

German company Glasmanufaktur Brandenburg and the European Commission claimed victory in the latest stage of a case which hinges on whether Chinese business Xinyi PV operates as a free-market manufacturer. The suit has been running since May 2014 and no immediate conclusion appears to be in sight.

Competitive bidding for onshore solar and wind will establish a clean-power strike price acceptable to successful developers under the contracts-for-difference approach. The incentive scheme is also applicable to biogas, biomass, landfill gas, hydropower, concentrated solar power, and geothermal plants.

Although wind power dominates the renewables scene in the Republic of Ireland and the North – and even natural gas has a bigger role to play – the grid companies of the neighbors have revised up their estimates of how much solar will be needed, after talking to the public and industry.

With Paris having retroactively reduced solar feed-in tariff rates guaranteed for 20 years in 2006 and 2010, developer Solar Electric Holding has been unsuccessful in a legal bid to force the commission to decide on the compatibility of the incentive program with EU state aid rules.

The Euro trade body has promised to monitor the developing solar jobs market annually from now on, and pointed to Poland’s position at the top of the tree of EU member states for PV jobs last year as evidence the technology can still benefit from legislative backing.

Amid reports of panels that should be destined for recycling instead being sold off in the Middle East and Africa, and the potential to bulk out products with non-functioning solar cells, a Beirut-based body has advised the government to shut down second-hand imports.