Europe

After months of negotiations, the Netherlands government has reached an agreement on energy policy reforms.

Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Electron Beam and Plasma Technology, ISC and IVV are working to develop a flexible weather-resistant PV encapsulation film aimed at building-integrated PV (BIPV) applications.

A Paris-based centre for recycling solar modules has abandoned its operations in PV waste management, citing increasingly difficult regulatory and market conditions.

Renewable energy developer Juwi has signed contracts with investors Hisun PV to build two power plants in Romania.

Sputnik Engineering, the firm behind the SolarMax invertor brand, claims to have limited the extent of job losses as it begins a restructuring.

A German government subsidy programme will trigger rapid growth in the solar storage market in 2014, according to research analysts IHS.

Italian minister of economic development, Flavio Zanon has announced reforms to Italy’s renewable energy incentives that will lengthen the payment period and release €3 billion to lower electricity bills.

In reporting improving sales in the first-half of 2013, Chinese thin-film equipment supplier and module manufacturer, Hanergy expects a ‘wide window of opportunity’ in Europe to gain module sales and market share after the anti-dumping dispute between the EU and China has been resolved.

Renewable energy developer the Juwi Group has secured a €252 million (US$336 million) loan, calling it an “act of faith” in the sector.

Austria will install a record amount of solar PV capacity this year, according to the country’s PV trade group, Photovoltaic Austria.