Legal

The Japanese authorities have suspended feed-in tariffs (FITs) and premiums for 342 agrivoltaic projects due to violations of new agricultural land regulations. Analyst Makoto Tajima tells pv magazine that this move could hinder the development of agrivoltaics in land-scarce Japan.

The Shanghai-based solar development company has filed two complaints with the Munich and Hamburg local divisions of the Unified Patent Court.

In its latest monthly column for pv magazine, SolarPower Europe explains how several European countries are moving away from support schemes for injections and towards the adoption of time-variant supply tariffs, which play a crucial role in reducing daily price fluctuations. This shift challenges the traditional business case for rooftop PV, which often relies on maximizing grid injections.

This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Soledad Andrade, Business Development and Operations Specialist at Spain’s Youdera. She says, in its early days, she was often the only woman in meetings or on-site visits, making it harder to prove her value. However, as more women join the sector, it has become a more comfortable and supportive environment for development and growth.

Acceleration areas and shortened approval procedures are intended to ensure faster expansion of wind and solar parks as well as energy storage at the same locations. The move implements requirements from the EU Renewable Energy Directive of 2023. Approvals will also be facilitated for electrolyzers to ramp up hydrogen production.

A new report published by the CSIRO says Australia’s research into solar recycling is second in the world, outside China, but suggests the establishment of mid-stream activities such as the production of metallurgical silicon and polysilicon have big potential.

Trina Solar says it has started evaluating potential violations of some of its patents for tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) tech. One of the patents focuses on the number of busbars and their width in TOPCon solar panels.

India’s Union Budget will be presented next week. Developers in the country hope for lower goods and services tax (GST) and import duties on solar components, as well as a delay in enforcing the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) until domestic supplies improve.

This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Camille Zimmermann, Investment Director at France-based equity firm Omnes. She says that, when there are women at the helm of companies, it seems there is no problem in finding other talented women to join the ranks of their organizations.

Signs of a UK government that’s prepared to back solar have emerged within a fortnight of the Labour Party securing victory in the General Election. The government has already signed off on more than 1 GW of new solar capacity.