SolarPower Europe

Currently serving as Head of Public Affairs for Trina Solar in Europe, Africa & Latin America, Jodie Roussell is now expected to assume the role of the Global Solar Council CEO.

Speaking on the occasion of the EU-China Summit, Milan Nitzschke, presideut of EU ProSun, issues warning that China state-influence in the solar industry is nefarious and directly responsible for job losses in Europe.

In latest Global Market Outlook unveiled today at the Intersolar Europe Conference, SolarPower Europe projects 80 GW of new capacity, beating 2016’s record 76.6 GW figure. European market may grow this year.

The European solar association has released a new report that recommends ten actions to further support solar across the EU. Innovative financing mechanisms and new business models, as well as balanced regulatory frameworks, are considered necessary to ensure the future growth of PV in Europe.

Interview: SolarPower Europe has appointed Wacker Chemie’s Christian Westermeier as new president. pv magazine spoke with the outgoing president Oliver Schäfer about the reasons behind his unexpected resignation and the future of PV and the energy market in Europe.

SolarPower Europe announced that Christian Westermeier has been elected as the organization’s new president. Westermeier is the Vice President, Marketing, Sales and Application Engineering of German chemical company and polysilicon manufacturer Wacker Chemie.

The European solar market decreased by 21% last year. This disappointing if not unexpected news opened SolarPower Europe’s annual summit in Brussels today. Grid integration of Europe’s solar capacity, EU market rules for protecting the ‘prosumer’ and reforms to the continent’s faltering Emissions Trading Scheme were major themes during the plenary session.

The 18-month extension to antidumping (AD) and anti-subsidy duties applied to Chinese solar exports has caused mixed reactions within the industry. The measure should be published on the EU Official Journal by the end of this week.

The Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxemburg this week confirmed the validity of the import duties, rejecting all complaints from 26 PV manufacturers. In the opinion of the judges the measures are necessary to compensate damage caused to the European solar industry by dumped imports from China.

Two important votes on the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy trade measures against solar cell and module imports from China took place amongst the Anti-Dumping and Anti-Subsidy Committee of the EU Member States yesterday, during which the committee voted to approve the proposed extension of anti-subsidy measures, but voted to oppose the extension of the anti-dumping measures.