Europe

Proposed changes to large-scale PV incentives by UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has led to a slowdown in installations, forcing market research firm, NPD Solarbuzz to lower its market demand forecast for the country.

SmartFlex, a three-year project part-funded by the EU, has completed a factory that will manufacture individually-designed solar facades.

PV developer Martifer Solar, a subsidiary of Martifer SGPS, has agreed to terms on almost 90MW of third-party operations and management (O&M) contracts with multiple PV plants in Italy.

Spanish PV developer, OPDE has received planning permission for a 10.8MW solar farm in Somerset in southern England.

US thin-film manufacturer First Solar is targeting projects as part of a proposed tender to build 600MW of new large-scale solar in Germany, which is expected to be implemented early next year, PV Tech has learned.

German inverter manufacturer, SMA has released a new ‘complete package’ designed to help UK solar farm developers meet the upcoming April 2015 deadline for subsidy change.

Norway-headquartered REC Solar has unveiled a new 275W module aimed at residential and commercial rooftop installations, the ‘TwinPeak Series’.

PV equipment supplier centrotherm is to cut 50 jobs from its headquarters in Blaubeuren, Germany as part of a restructuring process.

IKEA will extend its residential solar offering into eight new markets in the next 18 months following the success of the scheme in the UK.

Energy storage may not be cost effective in Germany in helping the transition to a higher grid penetration of renewable energy until that penetration level reaches as high as 90%, according to a leading think tank.