HoloSolis finds support: French startup HoloSolis, which is working on a 5 GW TOPCon solar cells and modules manufacturing factory in France, has launched a €20 million Series A fund raising campaign. It has already secured over €1 million equity contribution in convertible bonds from a consortium of Technique Solaire, Photosol, CVE and Tenergie. By investing in HoloSolis, the new consortium partners are securing a future supply of “Made in Europe” solar panels, respecting strict social and environmental standards, said EIT InnoEnergy that’s part of the Holosolis founding consortium along with IDEC Group and TSE. The factory in Moselle’s Sarreguemines is scheduled to start production at the end of 2026 and fully ramped up by 2028 to produce over 10 million solar panels annually for private and commercial PV markets. Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE is on board to help HoloSolis with technology selection and factory planning (see German Solar Institute’s Support For HoloSolis).
€100 million dark green fund: Mezzanine Partners, an alternative asset manager from Croatia, has launched what it says is Croatia’s ‘dark green fund’ Energy Adria aiming to raise €100 million. It will help realize more than 200 MW of green energy in the country. It is called dark green since it requires the highest sustainability requirements, added the asset manager. “The demand for this form of financing, with regard to national strategic goals, will certainly not be lacking, especially since the projects of solar power plants and wind energy are financially demanding and, as a rule, imply considerable participation of equity,” stated Mezzanine Partners.
Equinor trimming staff: Norwegian energy group Equinor is reportedly laying off 20% of its employees from its renewable energy business division, according to Reuters. This would affect around 250 full-time jobs; however, some of them will be shifted internally to other divisions. Equinor is mainly present in the offshore wind sector, which has been facing inflation, high interest rates and supply bottlenecks. It also operates in the solar sector and is invested in Norwegian renewable energy company Scatec.
New subsidiary for 1KOMMA5°: German clean energy company 1KOMMA5° has bundled its artificial intelligence (AI) and software business into a wholly-owned subsidiary calling it 1KOMMA5° Heartbeat GmbH. The new entity will work under the leadership of CTO Barbara Wittenberg and CPO Jannik Schall. The parent company also plans to invest €100 million in the development of AI business over the next 3 years, as it plans to establish the platform as Europe’s ‘largest virtual power plant’. It attributes the step to a high level of interest from private households with existing systems that are not installed by it. The interest is also building up due to the mass rollout of smart meters in Germany made mandatory by the government by 2025 as the government digitalizes energy transition. 1KOMMA5° said it has also started with intraday optimization and expects this to further improve the revenues of its Heartbeat AI customers by up to €1,000/year. 1KOMMA5° Heartbeat GmbH will also be open to manufacturers of batteries, charging infrastructure, heat pumps and air conditioning systems.
Agrivoltaic farms in Austria: The European Investment Bank (EIB) has approved €80 million for Austria’s PÜSPÖK Group to build 6 agrivoltaic farms in Burgenland with 257 MW combined capacity. The bank will finance this capacity with Erste Bank of the Austrian group of savings banks (Sparkassen). To the €80 million, Erste Bank is providing €43 million of which the EIB will refinance €28 million. All of the 6 projects will be built by mid-2026 in Nickelsdorf, Parndorf, Gattendorf and Mönchhof regions accompanied by a 4.1 MW/8.6 MWh modern battery energy storage system (BESS). These will run under feed-in-premium schemes and are supported by the European Union’s REPowerEU plan.
127.7 MW solar capacity changes hands in Italy: Spanish independent power producer (IPP) BNZ has completed the acquisition of 2 solar PV projects with 127.7 MW combined capacity in Italy from GreenGo. The 90.5 MW project is located in the Municipality of Francofonte in Syracuse and the 37.2 MW project in the Municipality of Lercara Friddi in Palermo. While the latter will come online in H1 2026, the Francofonte-located project is scheduled to come online at the end of 2026.
237 MW solar power plant in Bulgaria: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved up to €50 million loan for Tenevo Solar Technologies EAD to support a fully merchant solar PV project in Bulgaria. It will be the 1st renewable energy plant in the country with more than 100 MW capacity that will sell all of its output in the market without a support scheme or a corporate power purchase agreement (PPA). Located in the country’s southeastern region, the 237 MW Tenevo plant is expected to generate over 300 GWh of electricity/year. Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International will provide a parallel €53 million financial facility taking the total finance package to €103 million. The project developer plans to add a 250 MW behind-the-meter (BTM) energy storage. Tenovo is a joint stock company of Austria’s Renalfa IPP and Denmark’s Eurowind Energy.
Sungrow and Fidra partner for UK market: Chinese inverter and energy storage systems (ESS) company Sungrow has signed a strategic 4.4 GWh energy storage partnership agreement with UK-based Fidra Energy to support the latter’s plans to establish a 10 GW BESS platform across the UK and other European markets by 2030. Sungrow will supply its liquid-cooled energy storage system (ESS) PowerTitan 2.0 to 2 of Fidra’s UK sites. Initially, these will be of 2-hour duration, with an expansion potential to a 4-hour system. Fidra said the 1st of its sites to host Sungrow’s PowerTitan 2.0 will be at its flagship Thorpe Marsh development in South Yorkshire in the UK which will be one of the largest battery storage sites globally. The 2nd site will be West Burton C in Nottinghamshire.