Martifer Solar’s plans to expand its PV power plant projects business remains on-track after completing two of the largest PV power plants in Portugal that have a combined capacity of 22.4MWp. The project developer had around €235 million worth of projects in its backlog at the end of the first-half of 2012, with management expectation of increasing installations by a double digit amount this year, compared with around 200MW installed in 2011.
Yingli Green Energy Holding’s held up a defensive front today as it issued a statement rejecting any accusations that it had illegally subsidized its products. The statement is in response to accusations in an anti-subsidy complaint filed by EuProsun, which was submitted to the European Commission yesterday.
Despite record cell efficiencies being announced in recent years, just 0.5% of advanced technologies for cell efficiency have been implemented into volume production on an annual basis. A panel session moderated by PV-Tech’s senior editor Mark Osborne, part of the PV Production Forum 2012 at EU PVSEC, discusses the reasons why migration has been so slow.
The Austrian government has doubled its renewables budget to €50 million for 2013 and set to decrease by €1 million annually. Economy and energy minister Reinhold Mitterlehner, social minister Rudolf Hundstorfer and environment minister Nikolaus Berlakovich have introduced a combination tariff and grant scheme.
Suspicions of the strength of German influence over European politics appear to not be unfounded. Earlier this week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for dialogue between the Chinese and European Commission. It has been announced that the EC and China’s Ministry of Commerce have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Brussels to increase cooperation between the EC’s competition department and China’s antitrust authorities.
Jiangsu Zongyi Co. Ltd, a Chinese manufacturer of PV products and project developer, has built and connected one of Italy’s largest integrated photovoltaic plants — a 13.5MW rooftop solar array located in Marche in central Italy.
French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy and the Ministry of Productive Recovery has released a report detailing long-term operational recommendations and proposals for structural reforms to the renewables industry. The government will make a decision based on this report at a later unspecified date.
Gloom pervaded the Spanish solar industry when minister of industry, energy and tourism José Manuel Soria’s 19% tax on renewables receiving a FiT was announced in July to end the tariff deficit of US$30 billion. However, the cabinet has now launched a draft umbrella tax of 6% payable by all energy suppliers, irrespective of power generation method, lifting the mood a little.
United Insurance Brokers (UIB), an international insurance and reinsurance broker with headquarters in London, UK, has announced that it has won a contract to provide reinsurance for a 100MW power plant in southern Ukraine.
Renewable Energy Corporation (REC), a European supplier of PV modules, has completed the construction of a 4MW solar project in Greece for EuroEnergy, a renewable energy investment firm and a subsidiary of Libra Group.
