Europe

PV manufacturer Meyer Burger has decided to close its module assembly plant in Germany and focus on its footprint in the US.

Albania has launched its fifth round of auction for new PV projects, and is aiming to add 300MW of new capacity to the country’s energy grid.

Iberdrola and the sovereign wealth fund of Norway have announced plans to invest more than €2 billion to add 1.3GW of renewables in Iberia.

Dutch-German solar testing firm Sinovoltaics will expand its operations in the US market as a result of the solar and battery energy storage manufacturing “boom” stimulated by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Czechia recorded a significant increase in installed solar capacity last year with about 970MWp of capacity added to the grid, according to the Czech Solar Association.

RENA Technologies has received orders for what it described as “several gigawatts” of solar production capacity in 2023.

UK-based renewable energy developer SSE Renewables has acquired a 400MW solar portfolio in Poland.

“Every year, we see more attention from our customers, for whom this is becoming more at the top of their minds. Usually in PV, it’s been volume price and spec of the product. But now it's also how do we make that product, besides pure performance,” says Cemil Seber, VP of global marketing at REC Solar.

The European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) has written an open letter to the EU calling for “robust regulation” of forced labour in the solar supply chain.

Solar PV systems generated about 59.9TWh of electricity in 2023, up by about 1% year-on-year, according to a Fraunhofer ISE study.