Enel gets €118 million grant from EU for Italian fab; VAT for solar panels in Belgium lowered; Gruner Serbia signs commercial prosumer contract with EPS; Helexia acquires Cap Sud Group; Statkraft gets €1.3 billion revolving credit facility for RE; IRENA & CRUL sign MoU.
€118 million for EGP’s HJT module fab: Enel Green Power (EGP) has entered a grant agreement for €118 million with the European Commission that will contribute to the Italian company’s €600 million production expansion of its 3Sun heterojunction (HJT) cell and module solar panel fab to 3 GW annually, from 200 MW now. EGP expects the 15-fold increase to be realized and the facility up and running completely by July 2024. In the interim, the HJT module fab will be expanded to 400 MW annually by September 2023 (see 3 GW Bifacial HJT Modules Fab In Europe). It will make the TANGO (iTaliAN pv Giga factOry) production facility the largest GW scale fab in the world producing these high performance modules. At the same time, EGP will further develop the panels to incorporate tandem structure to exceed 30% efficiency. Management said the fab has ‘high potential for scalability’ and it can become a model for other GW-scale PV factories in Europe in the future.
Belgium reduces VAT for solar panels: Under the Royal Decree No. 20, Belgium has temporarily reduced Value Added Tax (VAT) rate to 6% from 21%, for installation of solar panels, solar water heaters and heat pumps. It will be applicable during the period between April 1, 2022 to December 31, 2023. The government said this will provide or maintain a substantial fiscal stimulus as soon as possible for actions that support the energy transition so that these come into effect as soon as possible. Details about the Royal Decree are available on the website of the Ministry of Finance.
Gruner becomes commercial PV prosumer in Serbia: State owned utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) has signed an agreement with the German subsidiary of Gruner AG, Gruner Serbia as its 1st commercial prosumer. The latter, an electronic components manufacturer, has built a solar power plant with 500 kW capacity on the rooftop of its production facility in Serbia. It will use power generated for self-consumption, and feed excess to the EPS grid under a full supply contract with net billing for a period of April 1, 2022 till December 31, 2023.
Helexia acquires French solar company: Voltalia’s subsidiary Helexia has acquired Cap Sud Group that develops, constructs and operates rooftop PV plants for agricultural buildings. Power generated is either used by farmers or sold to the grid. Cap Sud currently operates 344 projects representing close to 35 MW capacity. “Together, Cap Sud, Helexia and Voltalia will be able to offer farmers a comprehensive package of partnerships that include solar roofs on agricultural buildings, agrivoltaic projects, ground-mounted solar projects and wind power projects,” said Sébastien Clerc, CEO of Voltalia.
Statkraft raises €1.3 billion revolving credit facility: Norway’s Statkraft has signed a €1.3 billion 5-year sustainability-linked revolving credit facility to be deployed by the company to develop renewable energy capacity of hydro, solar and wind energy technologies. Management clarified that the facility’s interest margin will be adjusted (premium or discount) based on Statkraft’s performance on three pre-defined strategic sustainability targets on an annual basis.
IRENA signs MoU with CRUL: The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has entered a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Lazio Region Universities Coordination Committee (CRUL) of Italy, to research on renewable energy. CRUL counts 13 Italian universities as its members representing 13% of the entire student population in the country. Joint research will focus on solar and wind, hydrogen among other technologies with an aim to promote higher education in the field of renewable energy, facilitating technology transfer and knowledge sharing.
