€100 million have been invested into Solar21, the Irish renewable energy fund, for PV solar farms across Europe, focussing on economies with the most attractive long-term guaranteed FiT rates.
Activ Solar has completed Phase III of its Perovo Solar Power Station, adding a further 20MW to the system’s size. The total capacity of Perovo now stands at 60MW, and, with ramping up still ongoing, it looks set to be one of the largest PV projects in Europe.
New entrant to the PV project business, 3U Holding said it will build its first PV power plant in Adelebsen, Lower Saxony. Unlike typical projects, 3U Holding will use acquired derelict industrial area of approximately 26 hectares with buildings that will house rooftop arrays of mainly Canadian Solar modules as well as a ground-mounted array as a second phase development. The Rooftop part of the project is expected to be completed before the end of 2011. The total investment is expected to be in the range of €25 million.
Upon expiry of a recent five-year contract, long-standing employee and current CFO, Sabine Kauper will leave Phoenix Solar at the end of the year. Her replacement, Dr. Bernd Köhler comes from Siemens and will assume responsibility for finance, along with Personnel and Organisation Development, International Process and IT Management, Internal Audit and Law from January 1, 2012.
aleo solar has helped finance and equip a new 1MW PV system in Vittorio Veneto, Italy. The Germany-based module manufacturer joined forces with Ailita Engineering and Italian bank BIIS on the project, which was connected to the grid in May.
ForVEI investment company revealed that it had bought two solar PV facilities developed by the OPDE Group amounting to a total of 7.93MW. The €33 million (US$45 million) project was financed by Intesa Sanpaolo with the power plants located in the Italian Piedmont region. Both solar farms are fully operational with the 6.19MW Tortona project and the 1.74MW Predosa installation utilizing Trina Solar and Canadian Solar modules, SMA inverters and Mecasolar single-axis solar trackers.
Collaboration has turned to acquisition as equipment specialist Manz is to acquire Würth Solar's CIGS thin-film production line in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany. The deal will include the purchase of all technology IP from the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW), Würth Solar’s orginal technology partner on CIGS processes. The takeover should be concluded by early 2012 with a total of 116 Würth Solar employees being integrated into Manz as part of the acquisition.
Thin film PV company Nanosolar said it has supplied close to 6MW of its CIGS utility panels for two installations in France and Oregon, as part of its partnership with EDF Energies Nouvelles and its US subsidiary, enXco.
Solarbuzz’s new European PV Markets Quarterly predicts that 2011’s fourth quarter will see a quarter-over-quarter rise of 22% in the EU PV market, but 2012 will still be a tough year to navigate. Solarbuzz noted that downstream companies would need to be able to manage a new pricing environment in the midst of flailing incentives and grid parity economics.
Continuous pressure on pricing as demand remains weak has further impacted PV product sales and profits at Sunways. Consolidated sales declined by €35.0 million to €23.3 million, compared to the same quarter a year ago when sales reached €58.3 million. Lower cell manufacturing utilization, inventory write-downs on falling ASPs meant Sunways reported losses € 6.3 million an a negative operating result (EBIT) of €11.8 million in the third quarter.
