Hiring of French firm by Swiss investor Smartenergy will pave way for construction of three PV plants in Southern European hotspot, set to launch new PV-only auction next month.
Spanish firm walks PV Tech through planned location and sizes for large-scale pipeline it will deploy alongside French oil major, with plans by both to jointly look for PPA offtakers.
Official stats show Europe’s fourth largest solar market grew 890MW to cumulative 9.4GW in 2019, less than half of the 18-21GW goal it has set for 2023.
Panellists at London event were all confident market will retain momentum and grow bolder despite the speculative plays and competition from utilities and oil majors.
Major PV inverter company, SolarEdge Technologies has secured a significant single deal of around 1GW to supply PV inverters and power optimizers for European commercial and industrial (C&I) rooftop projects that will be financed, built, and operated by Enfindus.
Funding will back 18 PV plants in Spain of around 900MWp capacity awarded to Zero-E Solar in a 2017 auction, alongside various clean energy projects in the Netherlands, Austria and Italy.
Iberian operators tell London event they worry adoption of Lisbon’s solar auction design by neighbour Spain could entrench model producing prices developers ‘cannot survive’ on.
Wholesale price cannibalisation poses the most significant threat to Europe’s utility-scale solar industry, a panel of investors has heard at the London event.
PV Tech understands that two solar projects by developer Hive Energy and financier Noy Fund will be deployed without PPAs, with plans to generate revenues via direct energy sales.
