With Europe to end the Minimum Import Prices (MIPs) on Chinese imports of solar cells and modules today, following a European Commission announcement late last week, PV Tech gathered initial responses from the industry.
The European Union has officially elected not to extend anti-dumping duties against panels imported from China, with the minimum import price now ceasing to exist from midnight Monday 3 September 2018.
The majority of member states have reportedly stuck to their original position in March 2017 calling for the trade measures to run out as soon as possible.
A total of 17 European associations have called on policymakers to reintroduce the debate around priority dispatch and balancing responsibility for small-scale renewable installations, while ten energy intensive heavyweights want a framework on C&I self-consumption of renewables.
Nanoelectronics R&D organisation imec has been appointed as the lead to a three-year €5 million EU funded R&D program on perovskite solar cells that brings together a number of European research and commercial partners.
According to European trade association SolarPower Europe, preliminary global solar installations reached 98.9GW in 2017, a 29.3% increase over the previous year and another new record.
The European Union will provide €578 million to build a major power link running through the Bay of Biscay to export Spain’s excess renewable energy to France, in a move that has been welcomed by France, Spain and Portugal.
A hard Brexit would run the risk of endangering the UK's progress towards a more decarbonised and secure power market, a think tank in the country has warned.
