Europe

German PV systems are regularly generating more power than expected, according to researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE).

The China National Building Materials Group Corporation (CNBM) has completed its acquisition of German CIS thin-film module manufacturer Avancis.

Trade body the European Photovoltaic Industry Association has called on the European Council to set binding renewable energy targets for individual EU countries at its next meeting.

Clean energy fund manager Glennmont Partners has raised €500 million (US$657 million). The fund, Glennmont’s second, exceeded its €450 million target.

Shunfeng Photovoltaic, the owner of module maker Suntech, has purchased insolvent German project developer SAG Solarstrom for €65 million (US$85.4 million).

Module manufacturer, Yingli Green Energy is to supply 66MW of its modules to large scale UK solar projects.

UK-based merchant solar wafer producer, PV Crystalox Solar reported increased shipments and revenue but margin decline due to lower wafer selling prices and stable polysilicon purchase pricing led to a loss in the first half of 2014.

The EU Trade Commission has told PV Tech that it will not be pursuing the dossier of evidence presented to it by EU ProSun and SolarWorld that purported to show breaches of the EU-China price undertaking.

The UK is now the world’s fifth largest utility-scale solar market, according to figures published by Wiki-Solar.

Hanwha Q CELLS has completed its first project in Portugal as an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor.