Andy Colthorpe

The Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF) has voiced concerns that a tender process for PV expected to be introduced next year could cap deployment at just 2GW to 3GW a year in what is currently still the world’s second biggest market for annual installations.

In addition to launching a residential energy management and PV self-consumption package for the home compatible with Tesla’s Powerwall, power optimiser specialist SolarEdge launched a lightweight inverter late last year utilising the Israel-headquartered firm’s new HD Wave technology.

Solar Frontier believes it could make some of Japan’s as-yet-unbuilt utility-scale solar projects economically viable, as the company’s partnership with Goldman Sachs-affiliate Japan Renewable Energy prepares to take on 300MW of projects within the next five years.

SolarCity has produced commercials that “reframe” the debate between fossil fuels and renewables in “deliberately practical terms”, comparing the complexity of generating and delivering power from fossil fuel plants against the immediacy of rooftop PV.

Developers in Japan with large-scale PV projects in the pipeline have been given just over a year to prove their projects will go ahead, or will lose their feed-in tariff (FiT).

France has pledged a €300 million contribution to the International Solar Alliance, the climate change-driven initiative to promote solar, backed by more than 120 countries.

Project developer juwi has appointed two new CEOs to run its Middle East and Africa operations, through a Dubai-based subsidiary.

German Electro-Mechatronic Systems (GES), a Germany-headquartered company with a background in LED lighting, has signed a deal to manufacture solar PV panels and LED lights in Macedonia.

SMA is aiming to tackle the market for retrofitting energy storage systems in to existing home PV installations, with a new AC-coupled version of its Sunny Boy inverter suitable for high voltage batteries.

Corporations and utilities are already interested in energy storage but must collaborate to advance deployment and lower costs, avoiding some of the past mistakes of the PV industry, according to the heads of one California-based industry group.