Finance

Qcells has acquired full ownership of intellectual property rights for LECO technology with the recent acquisition of Cell Engineering. The technology is known to enhance the efficiency of PERC and TOPCon solar cells.

Despite inflationary challenges and elevated interest rates, financing in the solar industry has remained robust with corporate financing sitting at $28.9 billion – a 55% hike from last year’s $18.7 billion, a new report by Mercom Capital Group states.

Europe awakened to its energy dependency on Russian gas as the Russia-Ukraine conflict unfolded and the war has pushed the European Union to accelerate its energy transition. Italy could play an important role.

Researchers in Switzerland have found that the most effective way for governments to nudge homeowners into installing rooftop solar PV sytems hinges on individuals being told how much money they’ve lost by not getting it sooner.

Honeywell purchased $27.5 million in ESS common stock and intends to purchase $300 million in ESS product, with $15 million prepaid. The collaboration enables Honeywell to integrate ESS technology into its global offering, and ESS gains license to Honeywell’s flow battery intellectual property.

Researchers in Sweden investigated the complex non-linear tradeoffs between capacity expansion costs and reliability levels of off-grid PV mini-grids and found that capacity expansion based solely on cost-minimization may result in several reliability issues.

Electra Power, an Israeli energy supplier, is now in negotiations to sell its PV operations for up to $7.88 million. Last year, it reported an operational capacity of 4.7 MW and a project backlog of 25 MW.

EDF Renewables UK and Ireland, a unit of French energy giant EDF, has acquired UK solar installer SAS Energy. It says the acquisition will facilitate new projects in the solar, electric vehicle, and battery storage sectors.

CRISIL, an Indian data analytics company, has announced plans to acquire Bridge To India Energy, in a move aimed at strengthening its presence in the renewables consulting market.

Shell, which acquired Sonnen four years ago, is now actively seeking a majority shareholder for the Germany storage system specialist.