Europe Solar PV News Snippets

Bulgaria's largest solar park uses HJT modules; €49M for Shikun & Binui's Romanian plant; Invitalia grant for Midsummer's Italian fab; Montenegro planning 120 MW agri-PV plant; new solar PPA for Better Energy; Covestro & bp announce Spanish solar PPA; RWE's opencast mine solar farm online.    

400 MW solar plant in Bulgaria: Chinese heterojunction (HJT) solar cell and module manufacturer Huasun Energy says the installation of more than 824,000 solar PV modules totaling 400 MW capacity is now complete in Bulgaria. At the end of May 2024, 251 MW of the capacity was officially operational, with the remainder undergoing testing and set for imminent activation. It claims the 400 MW Apriltsi Solar Project as the largest solar park in Bulgaria as well as Eastern Europe and the Balkans. The project is also the world's largest single-site HJT solar project with modules supplied by Huasun. The facility is owned by Solar Green Energy and constructed by EPC player Inercom.  

Loan for Romanian plant: Israel-based energy developer company Shikun & Binui Energy has raised a €49 million loan from the European banking group from Austria, Raiffeisen Group for its 101 MW Romanian solar PV project. Located in North-West Romania, the Simleu Silvaniei Project will use the proceeds to sell generated electricity either on the wholesale market or enter into power purchase agreements (PPA) with electricity trading companies and suppliers. Having reached a financial close, the project is now under construction. CJR Renewables is the EPC company on the project. Shikun & Binui Energy is also developing a significant pipeline of 841 MW solar and 554 MW wind energy projects in Romania.  

SEK 91 million for Midsummer: Swedish solar technology company Midsummer has received SEK 91 million as grant payment for the completion of its thin-film solar cell factory in Italy. This is the 2nd tranche of payment to Midsummer from the Italian investment authority Invitalia for its 50 MW thin-film solar cell factory in Bari, Italy, which is now ready to scale up production. The 2nd tranche has been disbursed following approved factory inspection at the end of April 2024. The initial payment of SEK 73 million was paid last year. It expects another SEK 20 million including from the Puglia region where the factory is located, and close to SEK 50 million linked to the R&D of the project. In total, Midsummer says it will receive approximately SEK 235 million in grants to start production at Europe's 'largest' factory for thin-film solar cell production. It is also working on a much larger fab with 200 MW annual capacity in Sweden's Flen region, which is backed by funds from the European Union (see Swedish Manufacturer Zeroes In On Solar PV Production Site).   

Agrivoltaic plant in Montenegro: Montenegro has issued the urban planning and technical conditions for an agrivoltaic plant with up to 120 MW capacity based on the Law on Spatial Planning and Building Construction. Its developer Permonte submitted the proposal for the Kosanica Solar Project for preliminary analysis in March 2024. It is proposed to be located in the Municipality of Pljevlja. Permonte plans to use the solar power plant site for sustainable agricultural production to ensure much higher economic profitability.    

Better Energy's Danish PPA: Denmark's Better Energy has signed a 10-year PPA with environmental company Marius Pedersen A/S for a new solar PV park in the country. The latter will offtake subsidy-free electricity to help cover the electricity consumption of its production facilities in Odense, Sandholt Lyndelse, and Ferritslev on Funen. Better Energy says the project in Fraugde will deliver around 81 GWh annually once it is online by the end of 2024. Sheep will be introduced to graze on the site, it added.      

Covestro PPA in Spain: Polymer materials manufacturer Covestro and bp have announced a new solar PPA for the latter's Spanish solar power plant in Spain. The 10-year agreement is for a project of unidentified installed capacity in Teruel, in the Aragon region. Covestro said this agreement will enable its main production site in Tarragona to be powered by renewable energy. It will increase the company's share of renewable energy in its total electricity consumption in Spain from less than 10% to approximately 30%.    

RWE's Rhenish solar farm: Germany's RWE says the 1st stage of its 5th solar farm in an opencast mine in the country's Rhenish lignite mining area is now complete with around 37,000 modules installed. The RWE Neuland 1 Solar Farm is now connected to the grid with 20 MW DC/17.6 MW AC capacity. It will be expanded by another 15.2 MW DC/12.0 MW AC that is under construction. The project is located next to its 12 MW DC/8.4 MW AC RWE Neuland Solar Farm which has been operational since May 2024. Both projects are located near the future Hambach Lake. RWE says till the lake is temporarily filled with water, some 40 years from now, the area is being used to produce green energy.