Prices of PV modules have dropped by more than a quarter since the beginning of the year, according to the industry trade group SolarPower. This is creating concrete risks for companies to go into insolvency as their significant stock will need to be devalued. It calls on the European Commission to buy up European companies' solar module stockpiles.

The UK pension funds and insurance companies have £5tn in long-term assets, but they have no appetite for long-term investment in productive capital. Millions of people in the UK will retire with an inadequate pension. Compared to other countries, the 8,200 UK pension funds are more numerous, have higher costs and a narrower asset allocation.

Equivalent to around 5% of Belgian bank deposits. The bond sale was designed to compete with bank deposits to force banks to raise interest rates. More than 600,000 Belgians signed up for the one-year notes which earns 3.3%, while one-year term deposits earn 3.13% on average. This may influence the financial stability of some banks.

London Stock Exchange will offer trading of traditional financial assets on the blockchain. LSE stressed that it is not building anything around crypto-assets. It is using digital technology to make the processes of issuance, trading, reconciliation and settlement that are slicker, smoother, cheaper and more transparent, initially for the private markets.

The last US-owned enrichment plant closed in 2013. Rosatom is the only company that does everything in-house, from ore extraction to fuel enrichment. Its main competitors are European companies Orano and Urenco. Most vulnerable are small modular reactors that rely on uranium enriched to higher levels. Rosatom supplies all of such fuel to the US.

Money-market fund assets climbed to an all-time high of USD 5.57 trillion. Reasons: the economic outlook and Federal Reserve's decision to raise its interest rate to 5.5%, the highest in 22 years. Money funds have been quicker to pass on the benefits to investors than banks. Investors can earn more than 5% on risk-free assets like Treasury bills.

Compared to the US, European banks face less competition for the €9 trillion of consumer deposits. They offer 2% on 1-year deposits. Money-market funds invest in short-term debt instruments, offer liquidity and an average 3.4% yield, but manage only €1.5 trillion, almost all of it institutional money. In the US, a third of the $5.5 trillion comes from retail customers.

Wind turbine maker Vestas warned of supply chain issues and a slowdown in approvals for new wind power projects as it returned to a quarterly loss. It increased its price for onshore and offshore turbines to €1.04mn per MW from €0.97mn last year. Orders for its turbines rose by 8% in MW. Its warranty costs were up 39% and amounted to 4.5% of revenue.

Vattenfall spent years planning 140 turbines off England's east coast. Now it stopped the project. Surging costs of turbines, labour and financing rendered it unviable given the low price locked in for its electricity. The cost of building offshore wind farms has climbed 40% this year and they are vulnerable to rising interest rates due to high upfront investments.

Major European electricity interconnections are behind schedule because of “cable market congestion”. Raw materials such as copper are in short supply and 3 manufacturers, Italian Prysmian, Danish NKT and French Nexans control 75% of the market. Analysts doubt production capacity will align with the pace at which new projects need to be built.

Wind farm projects are getting cancelled, major developers are pulling out, and investors are questioning whether it will ever turn a profit. Equipment costs have risen and central banks have put up interest rates. A study last month estimated that a 3.2 percentage point increase in the cost of capital would raise the price of German offshore wind by 26%.

The UK announced £157 million in grants to support nuclear power generated by small modular reactors, so the UK can hit its target of providing up to a quarter of its electricity from domestic nuclear energy by 2050. The government remains committed to “mega projects” like EDF's Sizewell C, for which it provided a £700 million investment.