Europe

UK energy and climate change secretary Amber Rudd has said the new Conservative government “does not want large-scale solar” as MPs clashed over the recent decision to bring a premature end to onshore wind subsidies.

Private infrastructure fund F2i SGR is set to acquire 56.4MW of PV plants mainly in Sicily from CogiPower Spa, an arm of renewables firm Cogip.

The UK solar industry connected 2.53GW of new solar capacity to the grid in the first quarter of 2015, according to the latest figures obtained by Solar Intelligence.

Hanwha Q CELLS and ISM Group, a German developer and installer, have completed a 10MW PV plant in the Bitterfeld region of eastern Germany.

Fraunhofer ISE chief Eicke Weber will run for Germany’s Free Democratic Party (FDP) in regional elections.

The failed module manufacturer QSolar used fake TÜV SÜD certificates on some its products, PV Tech has learned.

A proposed “sun tax” on use of batteries for residential self-consumption of solar energy in Spain could increase payback time from around 16 years to 31 years under a new draft Law put forward by the Spanish Government.

Module manufacturer China Sunergy (CSUN) has reported its 2014 annual results after failing to report any figures since Q2 2014.

Germany-based PV materials manufacturer Heraeus has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Taiwan-based PV materials specialist Giga Solar Materials Corp for allegedly infringing a patent held by Heraeus over front-side metallisation paste materials used for solar cells.

Germany’s PV market looks set to undershoot its annual target again this year, possibly failing to reach even 1.5GW, according to David Wedepohl, the director of communications and markets at the country’s solar association, BSW-Solar.