New partnership in Europe: European renewable energy companies Q Energy Solutions SE and CDPQ-backed Velto Renewables have signed a partnership agreement under which the latter will acquire large-scale renewable energy projects from Q Energy over the next years. The sale of around 130 MW, comprising 5 wind and solar PV projects in France, is already complete, including Europe’s ‘largest’ floating solar project Les Îlots Blandin. All of these will be commercially operational between 2025 and 2026. An additional 400 MW in Spain and Portugal will be transacted soon.
Germany’s Aleo Solar: German solar PV module manufacturer Aleo Solar is reportedly shutting down its manufacturing facility in Prenzlau, Brandenburg. According to various local media reports, the company will stop the production of PERC solar modules at its factory in March 2025 after running it for close to 25 years. Aleo Solar is owned by Taiwan-based semiconductor devices supplier Sino-American Silicon Products since 2014. According to a report in Nordkurier, the company had earlier cited considerable economic pressure in the German solar industry and lack of political support to promote local production and local supply chains for the problems the domestic manufacturing industry was facing. Several solar companies in Germany have had to either close or scale down business in the country due to these reasons in the recent past. Now the industry is seeking attention from the new German government to help sustain the industry (see German Industry Stakeholders Seek €100M Annual Solar Research Funding).
130 MW solar plant in Bulgaria: Masdar-backed Terna Energy has announced a 130 MW new solar PV plant in Bulgaria. The project is located in the Vratista area of Burgas and will be constructed by TERNA S.A., the construction arm of GEK Terna Group. Terna says this project strengthens its presence in Bulgaria where it has already installed 30 MW wind energy capacity.
Huasun in Italy: Chinese heterojunction (HJT) solar PV manufacturer Huasun Energy recently showcased its solar modules at the Energy Transition Expo in Rimini, Italy as part of its strategy to strengthen its presence in Europe. Italy alone has a 79 GW solar target by 2030, which Huasun says makes it an attractive solar market. For the country’s growing agrivoltaic segment, Huasun brought along its G12R-88 agrivoltaic HJT solar module. The manufacturer also introduced its new colored series of HJT modules with UV-resistant glass and innovative encapsulation technology for the rooftop segment.
AIKO modules in Italy: AIKO, the Chinese all back contact (ABC) solar PV manufacturer, supplied its 455 W n-type modules for a solar system installed at the facilities owned by precious metal electrical contacts manufacturer AECAR Srl of Italy in Meda. AIKO’s high efficiency modules were supplied by Ok Group Srl and installed by Iniziativenergetiche Srl for 2 of AECAR’s facilities. AECAR says it chose AIKO modules due to their aesthetics, along with quality and price ratio.