Extreme weather patterns could be behind a disparity in power generation from the East and West Coasts of the US, with the East underperforming expectations last year, according to a new report.
One of Japan’s largest trading companies, Marubeni, which is already involved in both upstream and downstream sectors of PV industry, has entered the domestic market for residential solar.
Solar power systems serving an oilfield in Qatar will be fitted with utility-scale energy storage batteries, helping to ensure the continuity of operations at 775 oil wells.
US residential PV installer and leasing company Sunrun has formed a nationwide partnership to market its solar services to the clients of Associa, a company which provides property services to communities.
SunPower has made a deal to allow its commercial and industrial users the benefit of access to energy intelligence software made by EnerNOC, a US developer of cloud-based energy management and demand reduction solutions.
SKI Corp, Japanese a mobile phone sales agency, has signalled its intent to build a 24MW solar farm in the west of Japan and to borrow ¥8 billion (US$67 million), for the purposes of doing so.
Thin-film maker Hanergy, which has been the subject of recent press reports over “unusual” share trading, has opened a number of retail stores in its homeland, China.
The cost of solar in Japan declined as much as 15% in one year, but a lack of clear policy direction from the government has left a number of businesses with a “pessimistic” outlook of the industry’s future, according to a survey by the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF).
Japan has confirmed it will make big cuts to the feed-in tariff (FiT) payable for solar, which have been expected for some time, dropping the rate by around 16%, from ¥32 (US$0.27) per kWh to ¥27 per kWh by July.
Kyocera is targeting the German market for self-consumed solar electricity, with the Japanese company preparing to launch a home energy storage system in May.
