Europe

Solarwatt, a German-based module manufacturer, has officially acquired the French subsidiary of German Centrosolar.

PV wet chemical equipment and materials supplier, RENA GmbH has changed its name to RENA technologies GmbH and appointed a new CEO as the company prepares to exit insolvency proceedings that will result in Jürgen Gutekunst, founder and former CEO of RENA GmbH leaving the company.

Sweden-based nano-material development firm, Sol Voltaics has claimed a 1-sun record conversion efficiency of 15.3% for a solar cell coated with its gallium-arsenide (GaAs) nanowire array (NWA).

Developer Wirsol Energy has connected a 29MW solar farm in the UK.

PV manufacturing equipment specialist Smit Ovens has filed for bankruptcy in the Netherlands to restructure its operations.

Kyocera is targeting the German market for self-consumed solar electricity, with the Japanese company preparing to launch a home energy storage system in May.

Major institutional investors have warned politicians that interfering in solar support schemes could spook the market and lead to large amounts of investment being lost.

Renewables will be a focus of German energy companies E.ON and RWE, according to their earning reports for 2014.

ReneSola has confirmed it is to exit the minimum import price (MIP) undertaking between China and the European Union.

The increasing amount of PV installed in combination with electrical storage options is bucking the trend in the opposite direction for overall residential solar installations in Germany.