Major PV equipment supplier, centrotherm photovoltaics has submitted its reorganization plans to the insolvency court in Ulm, Germany. Although the company did not provide details on what those plans would be, the company said in a statement that it had now entered a critical phase in its insolvency proceedings that also need creditor approval. Both its subsidiaries, centrotherm thermal solutions and centrotherm SiTec have also filed plans with the court separately.
M+W Group, a German EPC provider, has completed the acquisition of Reliable Plant Solutions GmbH (RPS), a power plant developer with headquarters in Schkeuditz, Germany. Following the takeover, the company has become a 100%-owned subsidiary of M+W Group and has been renamed as M+W Power Solutions GmbH with immediate effect. Its headquarters will remain in Schkeuditz.
Ahead of the official release from the four leading German high voltage network operators (TSOs) next week, Reuters has released information that the push towards green power could cause the country’s renewable energy surcharge to rocket by almost 47% by next year. The article states that this is a reflection of the increasing amount of electricity from renewable sources, bought from producers at guaranteed prices above market rates.
German project developer Conergy and local firm Spercheios S.A. have constructed four PV plants for private Greek investors with a combined capacity of 1.9MW and a total output of 2.8 million kWh of solar power every year.
Through a subsidiary, S.A.G. Solarstrom will be partnering with Valsolar 2006 and Cavalum SGPS to develop and construct four PV plants in Badajoz, Spain (in the region of Extremadura), as part of their newly developed joint venture. The plants will have a total output of around 440MWp with the project holding a total investment volume in the three-digit million range.
Spain-based BIPV firm Unisolar, also known as Soliker, filed for insolvency on September 6, Photon has confirmed after speaking with the general manager of the company.
Swiss electricity, water and gas provider SIG has appointed Sunergis to manage its 44kW PV carport project at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland while Italian carport manufacturer Giulio Barbieri has been selected to supply its PV carport system for the project.
The Chinese government’s actions this summer to further raise the country’s PV installation targets appears to have had the desired effect. IMS Research’s latest report provides hope to the Chinese market forecasting a surge in the second half of 2012 with more than 4GW of PV installations to be completed, taking full-year installations to 5GW, even though it experienced a slow start to the year with just 720MW installed in the first half.
Between January and August 2012, Greece’s PV capacity doubled to 937MW, according to the latest report from the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator S.A. (HEDNO). This comes amid political and economic turmoil in the country.
Weaker than expected demand in key markets of Germany, Italy and UK in the third quarter have led to aleo solar further lowering its revenue expectations for 2012. The module manufacturer had said at the beginning of August that it expected a "surge in sales" especially from the German market in the second-half of the year with stability restored after the feed-in tariff changes.
