/ESSEN/MADRID, August 25, 2023, 08:05 CET, Asterion Industrial Partners/ Asterion Industrial Partners, an independent investment management firm focused on European infrastructure, has signed a purchase agreement for the acquisition of the energy utility STEAG from the consortium Kommunale Beteiligungsgesellschaft (KSBG), which represents the municipal utilities of the cities of Dortmund, Duisburg, Bochum, Essen, Oberhausen, and Dinslaken. The transaction values STEAG at an enterprise value of around €2.6 billion.

/MUNICH, June 10, 2022, 13:15 BST, PVEurope, BayWa r.e. Renewable Energy GmbH/ BayWa r.e. has commissioned a solar park with battery storage in Villingen-Schwenningen in Baden-Württemberg/Germany. The plant combination is supported by the innovation tender of the Federal Network Agency. The solar park, with a capacity of 7 MW, can generate approximately 8 million kWh of green electricity annually, which is equivalent to the consumption of 2,500 average households in Germany. The storage capacity of the 3 MW battery storage is 4 MWh. Marc Krezer, Head of Project Development PV Germany, comments on the commissioning: "We would like to thank the Villingen-Schwenningen municipality for the good cooperation and are pleased with the timely completion and commissioning of the Spitalhöfe solar park. From now on, the plant combination can feed electricity into the grid. The storage facility makes an important contribution to grid stability and security of supply."

/BERLIN, October 18, 2021, 9:30 CET, EIT InnoEnergy, RENEWABLE MARKET WATCH^TM/ Berlin is perhaps best known for the Berlin Wall, which physically divided the city between East and West Germany for 28 years, finally coming down in late 1989. Since German reunification in 1990, the decades that followed have been defined by re-building and innovating. Of course when we announced Berlin as the location of The Business Booster 2021 we had no way of knowing that the world, and the economy along with it, would come to a screeching halt with the corona virus. However as TBB 2021 will now serve as the meeting place for innovators and industry for the first time in many months, we could not be headed to a better and more symbolic place for the re-building of Europe’s economy through innovation and sustainability. 

/BERLIN, October 25, 2021, 9:30 CET, EIT InnoEnergy, RENEWABLE MARKET WATCH^TM/ The pandemic we are currently in is driving a multitude of changes across the world. While, undoubtedly, many of the impacts have been devastating, there are some developments which bear great promise for the future. Interestingly enough, some of the most significant and positive of these changes happen right in front of us – in our cities, particularly large and densely populated urban areas. New trends are emerging that are pushing urban centres in Europe and around the globe to adopt exciting new models that put citizens and their life quality front and centre.

/FRANKFURT, Germany and COLOGNE, Germany, February 2, 2023, 7:00 ET, PRNewswire/ Digital Realty and ENGIE have signed a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for a 116 megawatts (MW) share of a new 154 MW ground mounted solar photovoltaic project. Digital Realty's offtake commitment, estimated at 120 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year, supports the construction of the new solar park to be built by CEE Group, an infrastructure fund specializing in renewable energy projects. Located in Brandenburg in the northeast of Germany, the solar park is scheduled to start operation in late 2023.

/23^rd March 2021, BayWa r.e. Renewable Energy GmbH/ BayWa AG has been given the green light for the capital increase at BayWa r.e. renewable energy GmbH (BayWa r.e.) by an external investor. The regulatory approvals by the responsible supervisory authorities in Germany, Austria and Australia have laid the foundation for the largest transaction in BayWa’s corporate history: Funds advised by the Swiss investor, Energy Infrastructure Partners (EIP), will acquire a 49% stake in BayWa r.e. with an equity contribution of €530 million. The transaction is expected to be completed in March. BayWa AG will remain the majority shareholder with a 51% stake.

/14^th October 2021, BayWa r.e. Renewable Energy GmbH, Fraunhofer ISE/ BayWa r.e., a pioneer in Agri-PV solutions, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, together with other research partners, have built the first Agri-PV research facility for apples and espalier fruit at the Nachtwey organic fruit farm in Gelsdorf in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The primary objective of the project, which is funded by the German Ministry of Environment, Energy, Food and Forestry of Rhineland-Palatinate (MUEEF) and the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), is to increase climate resilience in fruit growing and to ensure safe and sustainable apple production with additional solar power generation. As part of the project, which will run for five years, numerous factors will be investigated on eight varieties of apple.

/LONDON, August 26, 2021, 9:10 BST, RENEWABLE MARKET WATCH^TM/ The German Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) has announced the results of the innovation auction that closed for bids on August 1, 2021. As in the innovation auction on April 1, 2021, only bids for combinations of at least two renewable energy installations with different generating technologies at the same grid connection point could be accepted. The round was slightly undersubscribed, with 23 bids comprising a volume of nearly 250 MW submitted. The number of bids and the bid volume submitted was around half what they were in the previous auction round. All bids were for combinations of solar installations with storage facilities. Six bids had to be disqualified due to formal errors. As this round was undersubscribed, the statutory volume control for the innovation auction was applied for the first time. This meant that bids were awarded until 80% of the bid volume of the accepted bids had been reached or exceeded. As a result of the volume control, only 16 bids with a total volume of 156 MW were successful, according to the market study Europe Net Metering and Self-Consumption Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Market Outlook 2021 – 2030. 

/LONDON, February 6, 2023, 9:30 GMT, RENEWABLE MARKET WATCH^TM/ Offshore wind energy has become an increasingly important renewable energy source in Germany. The German government has implemented several policies and initiatives to support the expansion of offshore wind energy. One of the most significant are amendments to Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) and to the German Offshore Wind Energy Act (WindSeeG), which sets out a framework for developing offshore wind farms and provides rules for auctioning offshore wind energy projects. The country has set ambitious goals to expand offshore wind power, with a target of 30 GW of installed capacity by 2030 and a long-term goal of reaching 70 GW by 2040. All these measures shall accelerate the expansion of renewable energy contained and are into force from 1 January 2023.

/MUNICH, June 16, 2023, 17:00 BST, RENEWABLE MARKET WATCH^TM/ Renewable Market Watch™ visited the smarter E Europe Conference and Exhibition in Munich from 13 to 16 June 2023. After three exhibition days and inspiring conferences and forums, Europe’s largest platform for the energy industry publishes a record success: 2,469 exhibitors from 57 countries showcased products and solutions across 180,000 square meters in 17 exhibition halls and an outdoor area. More than 106,000 visitors from 166 countries made their way to Munich to be part of the event this year, and with over 2,000 participants from all over the world, the conferences and side events of the 2023 edition also broke all records. This made The smarter E Europe 2023 the largest and most international event in its history to date, setting the course for a 24/7 renewable energy supply. Besides meetings with its existing customers, the Renewable Market Watch's team also met with national solar industry associations and many new exhibitors with high-standard and novelty products such as solar PV modules, inverters, battery storage, and software service providers.

/ESSEN, March 2, 2023, 9:30 GMT, RWE/ RWE, the UK’s largest power generator and one of the largest renewables developers, has significantly expanded its solar and battery capabilities by acquiring JBM Solar, a large independent developer of solar and battery storage systems. With this acquisition RWE reaffirms its UK strategy by continuing to grow and to diversify its UK portfolio by adding further solar and battery projects. With the acquisition of JBM Solar, RWE takes over a mature pipeline with a combined capacity of around 6.1 gigawatts (GWac), split into 3.8 GWac of solar and 2.3 GWac of battery storage projects. Most of the projects are in the central and southern regions of England and a large proportion already have grid connections and land secured.

/ESSEN, December 22, 2022, 9:30 GMT, RWE/ RWE and Forschungszentrum Jülich want to demonstrate how that can work in the Rhenish lignite mining district. The plan is to generate solar power in tandem with agricultural and horticultural activities on about seven hectares of recultivated land at the edge of Garzweiler Mine in Titz-Jackerath in the district of Düren in North Rhine-Westphalia. The research project is funded by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia through the progres.nrw programme. For Germany to be able to achieve its climate targets, the land must be made available for the expansion of solar power and innovative plans must be developed. In addition to Floating-PV plants on lakes, agrivoltaics (“Agri-PV”) offers major potential for expansion.

/LONDON, September 7, 2023, 11:00 BST, Shell/ Shell Energy Europe Limited (“Shell”) has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement with HANSAINVEST Real Assets to secure 600 megawatts (MW) of capacity at Germany’s largest solar project. Microsoft has already secured 323 MW of this renewable energy capacity from Shell.

/NIESTETAL, GERMANY, March 13, 2023, 11:15 GMT, SMA/ Solar Technology AG (SMA/ISIN: DE000A0DJ6J9/FWB: S92) has presented provisional, non-audited figures for 2022 as a whole. The figures report that SMA group sales rose by 8.4% year on year to €1,065.9 million (2021: €983.4 million) despite pronounced procurement supply shortages. Earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation (EBITDA) increased significantly to €70.0 million from €8.5 million in the 2021 fiscal year. This corresponds to an EBITDA margin of 6.6% (2021: 0.9%).

/STOCKHOLM, July 20, 2023, 08:05 CET, Vattenfall/ Vattenfall has acquired the German solar developer Solizer. The transaction includes an experienced team and a pipeline of large-scale solar projects in Germany with a volume of 4 GW. This acquisition expands Vattenfall’s German solar development portfolio to 7 GW in total. The first projects from the new portfolio can be ready for construction as early as 2024.