Solar investors believe that Europe can be a competitive market for PV manufacturing and compete with the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), as ESG and energy security concerns will drive money to the continent.
Renewables developer Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) has declared its entry into the German market, opening its first German office in Munich in December and expressing the intention to develop 2GW of solar and energy storage assets in the next four years.
Following months of discussion and encouragement from the European solar industry, the EU has announced a multi-pronged scheme to drive renewable energy and clean technology development, with the aim of putting the European market at the forefront of the global energy transition.
Sky-high electricity prices and an increasing urgency to curb fossil fuel led to a surge in European solar additions last year. Jules Scully charts how the continent’s ongoing energy crisis is affecting EU renewables policy and PPA appetite.
In early December, the Dutch government announced a €130/MWh revenue cap on solar and wind generation. The decision to lower the cap draws eyes, and potentially spells trouble for the country that installed Europe’s fourth largest solar capacity in 2022.
The EU will introduce shorter permitting times for solar and renewable energy assets in the most recent addition to its REPowerEU scheme, agreed on by the European Council this week.
The EU installed 47% more solar in 2022 than last year and is on track to double its capacity by 2026 to an expected 484GW, according to a report by industry association SolarPower Europe.
A 600MW electricity transmission line between Italy and Tunisia has received €307 million (US$324 million) in funding as part of the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) financing programme aimed at developing energy infrastructure across the continent.
Solar PV capacity is expected to almost treble over the 2022-2027 period, growing by 1.5TW and will surpass coal as the largest source of power capacity worldwide, according to a report from the IEA.
The government of the Netherlands announced a €130/MWh (US$136) profit ceiling for solar and wind generation this week as part of the EU’s established ‘intramarginal levy’ scheme to curb excessive energy profits due to rising costs.
