Europe

Market intelligence company Navigant Research has developed a country forecast of the global market. Incentives and pricing will be the main driver of installations, though the market will continue to be concentrated in certain key regions, including India, for now.

The ‘intelligent’ racking solutions provider has joined hands with Norwegian aluminium producer Hydro Extrusion’s India arm to manufacture PV racking for rooftops. The manufacturing unit—located in Bengaluru—is eyeing at least 20 MW of business from India in the next six months.

TES issued a press release announcing the new facilities that is light on detail but claimed the plants would position it as ‘a leader’ in battery recycling. The company also announced an intent to move into the reuse of spent electric vehicle batteries in commercial and residential applications.

Having extended around two billion euros for clean energy projects, Germany will now support India in improving green urban mobility infrastructure, solutions and services in cities. Furthering its support for clean energy transition, it will also provide concessional loan of 200 million euros for a DISCOM investment facility in India.

The aim is development of sustainable, integrated solutions for both short- and long-term storage. November 12 is the last date for submitting expressions of interest. Projects are expected to start before December 15, 2020.

A floating PV array in the Netherlands has brought a community together while highlighting the value of module lever power electronics on water.

Scientists led by the Technical University of Denmark have begun a project to design solar cells that can be produced in different colors with minimal effect on performance, making them suitable for building-integrated and other applications with aesthetic considerations.

EU industry body EUROBAT has called for the bloc to adopt a battery industrial strategy and has pushed the claims of domestic manufacturers in the same manner as India has, as the race hots up to dominate the global energy storage market.

A British study has found co-location of solar and storage may accelerate the deployment of profitable merchant renewable energy projects in the United Kingdom. The report predicts installed solar capacity in the U.K. could increase from around 13 GW next year to 19 GW in 2030 and 32 GW in 2040.

Trade tariffs are spreading across the global PV industry. The United States has been especially active with its sandwich of old antidumping and countervailing duties coupled with new Section 201, 232 and 301 duties. Some of these are part of the Sino-U.S. trade dispute; others impact not only Chinese producers, but manufacturers around the world. So, what will be the impact of this new era of PV protectionism on the solar sector?