Europe

Europe’s solar technology specialists may need up to €7 billion (US$8.51 billion) in capital investment in order to scale up domestic manufacturing to be globally competitive, according to a panel of industry leaders.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has said it expects annual solar PV additions globally to surpass 160GW by 2022, affirming the technology’s position as the “new king” of global electricity markets.

Novel technology is to be deployed by National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) in a bid to open up around 1.5GW of capacity for renewables.

Spanish energy company Acciona plans to carry out an initial public offering (IPO) of its renewables unit before the end of June despite recent volatility among Spanish green energy stocks.

Solar developer ReneSola Power has established a joint venture with asset management firm Eiffel Investment Group to finance its current European project pipeline.

German renewables developer wpd has announced a 345MW solar development pipeline to tap into the growing Greek renewables market.

German agriculture group BayWa has said its renewables business saw an “unusually strong” start to the year, driven by high demand for solar modules and the sale of a PV plant in Japan.

Independent power producer has Opdenergy has postponed an initial public offering (IPO) just days before its shares were due to start trading on the Spanish stock exchanges.

Norwegian energy company Equinor has secured a 1.6GW solar project pipeline in Poland by acquiring local renewables developer Wento.

Europe’s solar industry has lauded the inclusion of a commitment to "re-ignite" Europe's solar manufacturing sector within the European Commission’s refreshed industrial strategy.