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The Chinese government has reduced a tax break for solar panels by 4 percent. It may be a first sign that solar panel prices will rise again in the new year. Especially now that it seems likely that the Chinese government will also abolish the remaining 9 percent tax benefit in the first half of 2025, says Gerard Scheper, CEO of European Solar. "This finally seems to be the end of the declining price curve of solar panels and making it less interesting to postpone the purchase any longer."

After four years of soaring growth, the EU solar sector has hit its first deployment slowdown of the 2020s, dropping from 53% growth in 2023 to 4% in 2024. This represents a 92% slowdown of solar growth.

The European PV market remained steady in November, with the PV Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) holding firm at 68, consistent with October. While buyer confidence remains robust, solar panel and inverter prices continued their downward trajectory across most categories, signaling a market grappling with seasonal adjustments and intensified competition, according to trading platform sun.store.

Econergy UK, has signed a financing agreement for €28 million in project funding for the Iancu Jianu solar photovoltaic (PV) project in Romania. The project, which has an installed capacity of approximately 58 MW, is currently under construction and expected to be connected during 2025.

Due to the lack of EU state aid approval, the special provisions of the solar package 1 for tenders for agri-PV systems have not yet been implemented in Germany. The data situation regarding the installed systems is also unclear.

With a nominal output of 40 MW, the Romanian CCE solar power plant Horia 1 was officially opened. It was funded by the EU. More PV projects of CEE in Romania are coming.

Supported by the EBRD, Romania has this week launched a Contract for Difference (CfD) mechanism for the construction of renewable energy installations and opened the first auction for 1.5 GW of renewable energy generation capacities – 500 MW of solar PV and 1 GW of onshore wind.

Axpo’s solar and wind divisions Urbasolar and Volkswind have successfully secured a combined capacity of 163 megawatts (MW) in two recent public tenders – also including Agri PV and floating PV.

Our next newsletter for investors will be published on December 18, 2024. It will be about the pv markets in Eastern and South Eastern Europe. The Polish market takes the lead. It is developing very dynamically. Sign up for the newsletter to receive the latest B2B information on your desk.

Montenegro has a high solar potential and is taking promising steps to use more solar PV, as Ivana Vojinović, director of the Center for Climate Change, Natural Resources and Energy at the University of Donja Gorica, explains. But challenges remain.

The Republic of Moldova is taking major steps to encourage investment in renewable energies, expand international partnerships and achieve climate targets. Photovoltaics play an important role in this. The first tenders were recently launched.

In many countries in Central Europe, the market for large-scale battery storage is growing rapidly. The drivers are diverse, but there are still obstacles, as Eliza Stefan, Sales Manager BESS for Central & Eastern Europe, Jinko EES, points out.

MET Group has purchased a 100% shareholding in Comax France, an owner, operator and developer of combined heat and power (CHP) and battery energy storage systems (BESS).

Harald Scherleitner is leading the two business units Solar Energy and "Perfect Welding" in the field of Sales & Marketing at a global level at Fronius. In the interview, he explains how Fronius is positioned in the Polish market and what prospects the Polish market holds for the company.

Swiss based energy company BKW concludes a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with the German-Austrian solar developer CCE Holding for a 42-Megawatt solar plant in Lazio/Italy.

A farmer in Pyhra, Lower Austria, has covered part of his berry plantation with semi-transparent modules. This has advantages and the neighbourhood also benefits.

Solar developer software, Glint Solar announced an $8 million Series A funding round led by Smedvig Ventures with participation from Momentum, Futurum Ventures and Antler’s Nordic fund. The investment follows a period of growth for the Norwegian startup which has tripled its customer base over last 12 months.

The Extraordinary Commissioners of Italian inverter manufacturer Fimer in Extraordinary Administration have announced that the Company’s business complex has been assigned to MA Solar Italy Limited, part of the McLaren Applied Group, with the support of Greybull Capital. The takeover price was not disclosed.

The final days of COP29 in Baku had experienced COP watchers reach for every cliché known to man. The negotiations were a roller-coaster, the mood was bleak, the clock was ticking, hopes were fading, diplomacy was frantic. But in the end, as they say, victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat, our guest author Gerard Scheper analyses.

In view of the global price pressure and competition in the PV sector, which is now also causing major European inverter manufacturers such as SMA and Fronius to falter, SolarPower Europe is calling for political countermeasures.

The Polish pv market ranks fifth in Europe. By 2027, twenty-seven gigawatts of photovoltaic power are to be installed in the country. The drivers are many: State and European subsidies, rising electricity costs and a still large share of coal-fired electricity in the Polish electricity mix.

The Gas market operator MIBGAS has opened the auction process for the purchase of renewable hydrogen from DH2 Energy`s solar Hysencia plant in Aragón, which has an electrolysis capacity of 35 MW. Operations are anticipated to commence in the first half of 2027.

The Czech government wants to retroactively cut funding for existing renewable energy plants, as it did several years ago. International investors want to take legal action against this, citing a violation of national and European law.

Multilateral development banks (MDBs) issued a joint statement at COP29 (United Nations Climate Change Conference) in Baku outlining financial support and other measures for countries to achieve ambitious climate outcomes.

Greto Polska is a well knownn wholesaler for photovoltaic and heating installation companies. International Key Account Manager Piotr Pysniak talks about Polish an German market and their interconnection.