Europe

Single-axis solar tracker firm Soltec has signed a €100 million syndicated credit facility with eleven banks, led by Banco Santander to continue to expand its international business with the opening of subsidiaries in the five continents.

The Danish Green Investment Bank has provided €16 million of funding for two projects in Denmark with a combined capacity of 32MW.

Risen Energy will develop up to 300MW of PV capacity in Spain for a cryptocurrency miner.

UK solar distributor Midsummer Energy says its sales figures have doubled in the last year on the back of negotiating key supply partnerships.

US-headquartered high-efficiency PV module producer SunPower Corp has completed the acquisition of SolarWorld Americas from German insolvency court and administrators, securing the future of the solar cell and module assembly operations of the Hillsboro, Oregon plant.

European research and innovation hub centre imec has detailed a path for its nPERT (n-type Passivated Emitter and Rear Totally diffused) solar cell technology to reach conversion efficiencies in excess of 24% for volume production applications.

Major PV inverter manufacturer SMA Solar Technology has lowered its full-year revenue and profit guidance due to the market downturn in China that has led to plummeting product prices and delays to PV Power plant development across major markets.

Norwegian state-owned electricity company Statkraft plans to reach 2GW of solar by 2025, as part of a NOK1 billion (US$1.2 billion) investment in renewable energy.

SolarEdge is eyeing a top three place in the utility solar market as it continues to ramp up its ambitions in the segment.

A new organisation aimed at representing the entire PV manufacturing value chain in Europe, from materials and module manufacturers to equipment providers and institutions, is being planned for launch in 2019.