Solarwatt says it will shut down its battery factory in Germany. Battery production at the Dresden facility will halt at the end of this year, and the company will move all battery and solar panel production to China.

Germany added approximately 1 GW of new solar capacity in April and 4.9 GW in the first four months of this year, according to the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur). The country’s total PV capacity now stands at 87.6 GW.

Average retail prices fell to €6.24 ($6.70)/MWh on the German electricity spot market in April, largely due to renewables covering about 70% of the network load.

The German authorities have granted 2.23 GW in a utility-scale solar tender, with bids ranging from €0.0362 ($0.039)/kWh to €0.0549/kWh, oversubscribed to 4.1 GW.

The module manufacturing facility is located in Dresden, eastern Germany, and has an annual capacity of 300 MW.

Germany reached 86.2 GW of cumulative installed PV capacity at the end of March 2024.

The German parliament has approved “Solarpaket 1,” a policy package that includes higher feed-in tariffs for commercial and industrial (C&I) solar projects and new measures related to the size of eligible installations in large-scale solar auctions.

Germany-based Sinn Power plans to build a 1.8 MW floating PV system with vertically deployed solar modules. Construction is expected to start this summer.

UV Energy has developed a PV system that can be used in parking lots and on other surfaces. It claims that the arrays can be deployed within time frames of three to six weeks.

The Swiss canton of Fribourg says it plans to cover a roadway with 14 MW of solar panels. The authorities are now conducting an in-depth feasibility study, to be followed by a financial plan for the project.