Markets

Germany-based juwi Solar has said it will create 500 new jobs until 2012. Almost half of them will be located in Germany, which is currently the company’s “most important” market.

Greece’s Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change has signed two new Ministerial Decisions, which have helped to “satisfy some of the photovoltaics (PV) sector’s demands regarding the uplift of certain legal-administrative barriers”, according to PV Legal.

Three key states will account for 48 percent of the U.S.’s total photovoltaics (PV) market, according to a new report issued by EuPD Research. Aimed at helping the industry understand the downstream PV market, it added that Arizona “could evolve into one of the most important markets in the coming years”.

Aggressive government incentives are set to trigger “booming” growth in solar installations in Ontario, Canada, this year, but regulations requiring the use of locally sourced photovoltaics (PV) products will cause the expansion to slow dramatically next year, according to market research firm iSuppli Corp.

First Solar may be looking to takeover SMA Solar Technology AG after saying it would be willing to purchase each SMA share for €110, according to several brokers. Following this, SMA’s shares significantly rose by around five percent today to almost €85 on the German TecDAX stock index.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has issued a proposed decision to launch a new next-generation feed-in tariff (FIT) program, designed to drive mid-sized renewable energy development. This will require investor-owned Californian utilities to purchase electricity from renewable energy systems between one and 20 megawatts (MW) in size.

The Czech government has approved a renewable energy framework plan aimed at curbing the kind of subsidies that have led to a solar boom that ranks as Europe’s third largest, reports Reuters.

Research scientists from Boston University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering have presented their findings on self-dusting solar panels to the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

The French Ministry of Economy, Industry and Employment has announced it will be cutting all feed-in-tariffs (FITs) for new photovoltaics (PV) installations by 12 percent from September 1. Small residential PV systems, with a maximum capacity of three megawatts (MW) or less is the only category not to be affected.

Solar microinverters and DC-DC power optimizers are forecast to generate more than USD$1.5 billion in revenues over the next five years, according to IMS Research. It says that shipments of the devices are forecast to grow over 100 percent per year and will total more than 16 million in the same period.