Europe

Utility companies should embrace solar energy rather than trying to block it, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) has said.

German PV project developer SAG Solarstrom has announced that its credit rating was withdrawn on Friday 6 December.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has made its largest equity investment in clean energy this year, with a €50 million (US$68.5 million) investment into the second Glennmont Fund.

The Netherlands has removed a distribution fee for solar owners looking to put excess power back onto the grid.

The German Federal Network Agency’s monthly PV registration figures reveal nearly 226MW of PV systems were registered in October, continuing the country’s trend of falling installation rates this year.

EU ProSun, the alliance of European solar manufacturers that brought the Chinese anti-dumping case, has said it is confident the European Court will rule that the resolution of the deal is not in line with the commission’s own rules.

An estimated 16,000 protestors attended a demonstration in Berlin on Saturday, aimed at ‘saving’ Germany's Energiewende renewable energy policy from possible attack by the incoming coalition government.

EU governments have approved the anti-dumping measures on solar imports from China set out in August and confirmed that they will also form the basis of the resolution to the parallel anti-subsidy investigation.

Bulgaria’s parliament has proposed legislative changes that could see a 20% tax imposed on revenue from solar and wind energy.

Manufacturing equipment firm Manz AG has raised around €26.9 million (US$36.6 million) an increase in cash capital, to be used for the ‘internal and external growth of the company’.