Europe

Brussels-based heat pump advocacy organization, the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA), issued a stark warning today claiming that the industry is being largely impacted by inconsistent European laws and ‘unfavorable’ electricity to gas price ratios.

In the third week of September, European electricity markets prices fell compared to the previous week. The decline was due to lower demand and a significant increase in wind energy production in several markets, which offset increasing gas and CO2 prices. On September 25, TTF gas futures reached their highest level since early April and on September 18, Brent reached its highest settlement price since November 2022.

Calls for barriers and duties are resurfacing in Europe as solar module prices sharply fall. German PV analyst Karl-Heinz Remmers recalls the 2009-13 period, when the European Union introduced anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties. This drove the loss of 80,000 jobs in the solar industry, despite or perhaps because of the tariffs on PV modules and raw materials.

Octopus Energy has agreed to invest $89 million to scale up Kensa Group, a ground-source heat pump business, while KfW IPEX-Bank has agreed to provide $129.6 million of financing to German heat pump manufacturer Valliant.

Pexapark, a Swiss consultancy, has studied energy storage drivers, value streams, contractual agreements, and regional perspectives in Europe. It says that one obstacle to deployment is the inability to properly model revenue, and notes that 15% of companies plan to use AC coupling for projects in the next three years.

The German police arrested a Chinese citizen at Munich Airport last week, prior to the start of the Intersolar Europe trade fair. Investigators are targeting the detained individual for allegedly evading anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties imposed on PV products in the European Union prior to September 2018, a lawyer told pv magazine.

The European Union’s new renewable energy directive says that around 100 GW of wind power and PV should be built on the continent every year.

The EU’s new state aid rules should lead to more investments in clean tech production. The European Solar Manufacturing Council said the new framework will be the basis of Europe’s future manufacturing ecosystem.

Andreas Thorsheim, the CEO of Norway-based residential solar specialist Otovo, speaks to pv magazine about solar array prices, current market trends for distributed storage, and shortages of qualified professionals.

In a podcast, former Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess noted the importance of reducing reliance on China in the solar industry. But he said plans to set up production in Europe require state support and the right conditions.