Emmvee, DelSolar and Jurawatt are the latest companies to announce their solar modules will be stamped “Made in Europe” and eligible for a 10% premium over normal Italian feed-in tariff rates.
The German government could impose harsher-than-expected cuts to solar energy subsidies next year due to a rise in solar panel installations, according to a Reuters report. In June and July, around 1.25GW of PV capacity was installed in Germany, a figure higher than the figure achieved in the preceding five months of the year combined, and while Germany's network regulator declined to comment on these reported figures, government sources have indicated this will prompt a 15% cut to incentives in January.
The lower house of Japan's parliament has passed a new green bill aimed at promoting investment in solar and other renewable energy sources and weaning the country off nuclear power. The bill requires utilities to buy any electricity from solar and other renewable sources for up to 20 years and should it be approved by the upper house it will come into force next July.
The Indian state of Karnataka has published its updated solar policy, which includes a target for 350MW of solar projects by 2016. The Government will allocate 40MW worth of projects for direct sale to the different distribution companies in the state, commonly known as ESCOMS, up to the amount of 200MW. A total of 50MW of bundled solar thermal power will be allotted to state-owned utilities for development. The split between photovoltaic and concentrated solar power (CSP) has not yet been defined.
The final adaptation of Italy's deficit-reduction plan has imposed further reductions on renewable energy incentives. If confirmed, the new legislation could see incentives to renewable energy companies paid for by consumers on their electricity bills slashed by as much as 30%.
Spanish regulators have suspended subsidies for 360 solar plants after they failed to prove their eligibility for the feed-in tariff. The sanctioning brings the number of projects punished by the regulators to 1,919 and concludes the investigation into fraudulent subsidy claims within the country’s solar industry.
Yet more uncertainty overshadowed Australia’s solar industry at the end of last week as the South Australian Government discussed the future of the state’s feed-in tariff. Having originally planned to increase the incentive rate from 44c to 54c, plus a mandatory additional contribution from electricity retailers, the Government is now tipped to keep the tariff at 44c until the end of September for solar households entering the scheme.
Suntech Power’s Just-Roof building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) solution has been approved by French certification body CEIAB (Comité d'Evaluation de l'Intégration au Bâti). CEIAB is France’s official evaluation committee for all BIPV products, and its endorsement sees Just Roof gain eligibility for the country’s highest available feed-in-tariff.
A dramatic u-turn by German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been officially proclaimed with the announcement that all nuclear plants in the country will be shut down permanently by 2021. Initially, eight of Germany’s oldest nuclear plants will shut down immediately and the remaining plants will be phased out over the next 10 years. However, three plants could remain operational until 2022 to allow for the possibility of delays occurring in the addition of new energy sources - mainly renewables - as a replacement.
A common criticism of installing PV systems, large and small in Greece has been the bureaucratic red tape that had cased many projects to be delayed by several years, limiting the appeal of the country’s FiT and resulting in a standstill for most projects. According to BSW-Solar and PV LEGAL, concerted efforts to unwind the red tape, have had some significant success recently.
