Dutch fund manager DIF Capital Partners has signed an agreement to purchase a majority of Dutch solar project developer Novar for an undisclosed sum.

The European Commission first set up the rules for energy sharing communities in 2018 and 2019, with Portugal rolling out its own legislation soon after. Despite these efforts, five years on there are only three energy sharing communities legally operating in the Mediterranean country, with hundreds more stuck in a year-long regulatory backlog, one local engineer tells pv magazine.

European solar lobby groups have mostly welcomed the European Parliament’s recently supported EU Net-Zero Industry Act, which is aimed at strengthening the region’s renewables manufacturing sector. However, two groups are divided over a clause in the Act that limits tendered project’s from using technology partially made outside Europe.

One of the project architects behind a solar power system in a southern Lebanese village tells pv magazine that the 200-panel array – which pumped water from an underground well for roughly 400 families – was allegedly destroyed earlier this month by Israeli forces. The community needs help rebuilding it, he says.

Research firm EUPD Research says that the European Union’s (EU) solar PV module excess inventory reached 47.2 GW in 2022 and may hit 40 GW in 2023. In a new report provided to pv magazine, the company forecasts the EU may install 60 GW of new PV capacity this year with Chinese solar module imports hitting about 100 GW.

Abu Dhabi government officials last week inaugurated the 2 GW Dhafra Solar Photovoltaic Independent Power Project, located roughly 35 kilometers from United Arab Emirates’ capital. The plant consists of four million bifacial solar panels and is claimed to be the world’s largest single-site solar power plant.

Hithium and Solarpro say they will start construction on a 55 MWh energy storage facility in southwestern Bulgaria next year.

A sagging electricity line managed by major Californian utility Southern California Edison (SCE) is alleged to have caused a 2022 wildfire which led to two deaths, local media reports. An SCE spokesperson tells pv magazine the company cooperated with Californian authorities during its review of the blaze.

Latvia recorded 54 MW of installed solar capacity at the end of last year, according to International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) statistics. This is “miserable” compared to the country’s Baltic siblings, one energy expert tells pv magazine. But if Latvia lands the right utility-scale opportunities, solar could be one of its renewable energy stars.

The Irish government says it expects to meet the ambitious target of installing 8 GW of solar by the end of the decade. It says it will do this through existing measures – such as the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) and microgeneration supports – as well as a new, smaller Small-Scale Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (SRESS) to be launched in 2024.