What sounds like a piece of fiction is rapidly influencing how things are done in the construction industry – digital tools are increasingly used throughout all stages of construction projects. Greencells has translated this principle for use on solar plant worksites - with an Augmented Reality support solution developed in-house.

Californian energy tech developer BrightNight and Canadian clean energy company Cordelio have formed a joint venture that will see the latter expand its operations in the US with the help of the former’s planned projects.

Annual global investments in green hydrogen are on track to exceed US$1 billion by 2023 as production costs fall and governments increase their support for the technology.

Solar will likely play a major role in achieving Japan’s policy goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to zero by 2050 and could reach 130GW to 160GW in cumulative deployments by the 2030 financial year.

A round-up of the latest news from the US solar market, including developments from Capital Dynamics, ReneSola and Cypress Creek.

Around 1GW of solar projects are to be developed by Better Energy in Denmark and Poland after the renewables company secured what it describes as a “historic agreement” with a Danish pension fund.

The U.S. Senate has approved two candidates for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that were nominated by President Donald Trump, bringing the agency to a full five members.

Chinese EPC TBEA New Energy has debuted a new flexible mounting structure designed for use in rugged terrains at a 300MW project on a former open-pit coal mine in China.

‘Solar Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Q CELLS has become the first PV manufacturer to pass TÜV Rheinland’s new ‘Quality Controlled PV’ certification that equates to an extended stress test program based on IEC TS 63209.

A round-up of the latest news in solar project development, as juwi hits 3GW installed PV milestone, Greencells makes further progress in the Netherlands and plans for a Cambodian solar-plus-storage microgrid are announced.

Aurora Solar, a US start-up that has developed software to assist in the remote design and sale of PV systems, has raised US$50 million in series B funding.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has raised its shareholding in renewable energy developer ACWA Power.

Array Technologies has secured an agreement to supply 1GW of its single-axis solar trackers to RP Construction Services, a US-based provider of design and installation services for PV projects.

A consortium of solar module, cell and wafer manufacturers have proposed to standardise 210mm product sizes in a bid to achieve the “best possible scale” for the solar industry.

Sonnedix has acquired a Chilean solar project currently under development that will become the independent power producer’s third-largest PV plant when operational.

Trina Solar has signed another upstream manufacturing supply agreement, penning a long-term high purity polysilicon supply deal with Daqo New Energy.

Vietnam is set to expand its solar and wind capacity as a supportive regulatory environment and growing investor confidence spur on new project development, according to consultancy Fitch Solutions.

Repsol will ramp up investment in solar PV and wind in the next five years as looks to reach 15GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.

Trina Solar has looked to allay concerns regarding the operating temperature of 210mm high-power modules by publishing results of a study exploring the issue.

India will provide additional support for domestic solar equipment manufacturers to help meet the country’s soaring renewable energy generation capacity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said.

The first phase of what is claimed to be Vietnam’s largest utility-scale solar project has completed, using LONGi’s Hi-MO 4 Series modules.

Solar cell manufacturer Runergy has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with equipment provider Shenzhen SC in a bid to add 30GW of mono PERC and 5GW heterojunction cell capacity to its lines.

Solar tariffs in India hit a record low of INR2/kWh (US$0.0270/kWh) following an auction this week for 1,070MW of PV projects that are set to be developed in the state of Rajasthan.

China’s Ministry of Finance has handed completed solar projects in the country a major boon by approving all completed renewables generators to its subsidy catalogue.

Questions have been raised about the need for Spain to roll out a new renewables auction mechanism to drive up PV installation rates and meet its 2030 green energy targets.

JinkoSolar has confirmed the appointment of Dr Jiun-Hua Allen Guo as the company’s new chief operating officer following the resignation of Zhiqun Xu.

US renewables owner Vesper Energy is set to accelerate the development of its solar and storage pipeline in North America after closing a letter of credit facility for up to US$100 million.

Lots for PV projects on dams and beside motorways are set to be included in Portugal’s third solar tender, the country’s state secretary for energy, João Galamba, has said.