Europe

The 9REN Group recently closed on a funding lease from UniCredit Leasing that will go towards the financing of the Pacione 1 PV power plant. The Italian PV plant, located in the Taranto province, is complete and holds a 6.5MW capacity. Grid connection is expected to occur in the next few weeks.

Scatec Solar has signed on with Fotowatio Renewable Ventures and Italgen to build a 6.16MWp solar project in a former quarry close to Guiglia, Italy. The solar installation should be connected to the grid by this fall and generate over 7.5 million kWh yearly. The companies did not release the financial terms for their agreement nor any information about the 26,000 modules or BOS that will be used for the installation.

The backlash to the U.K. Government’s decision to launch a comprehensive review of its feed-in tariff on Monday has begun. Dissenting voices are becoming increasingly audible, with ministers publically bemoaning the coalition’s decision and airing fears about its long-term impact on the solar industry.

Bisol has completed a 1MW rooftop solar power plant installation in the Koroška region, a northern part of Slovenia. Working with Intereuropa and Volksbank International the company began the PV system installation in November 2010 and, as noted during the system’s opening ceremony last week, was able to connect the solar project to the grid a month and a half later.

Integrated U.K. PV firm Sundog Energy has hired Bill Roberts as its new managing director and reshuffled the rest of its management team. Roberts will take over the managing director role from Sundog’s founder Martin Cotterell, who has moved into the role of chairman and technical director.

A select group of Q-Cells employees will be presented with certificates for solar cell production monitoring by the German Minister of Finance, Dr. Reiner Haseloff, today after attending a training seminar organised by IHK Bildungszentrum Halle-Dessau.

Last year saw juwi Hellas establish itself as one of the key players in the Greek turnkey solar project sector by installing systems totalling nearly 10MW across the peninsula.

A sudden rise in the number of solar power installations in Italy is being investigated by the government over fears of feed-in tariff (FiT) fraud, according to Industry Minister Paolo Romani.

Martifer Solar has installed a 2.88MW rooftop facility in the Czech Republic’s capital city, Prague. The 67,816-square-metre array covers six separate buildings in an out-of-city industrial park and is operated by a third-party.

REC Systems and ABB have closed financing and begun construction of a 24.2MW solar power plant in Lazio, Italy. Authorisation for the 95-hectare project was granted in March 2010 and, when completed, the system’s 100,000 REC modules will generate around 37 million kWh of electricity a year.