Ben Willis

The government of Afghanistan is inviting expressions of interest from developers to bid for up to 2GW of solar as part of an effort by the Central Asian country to boost its energy self-reliance and meet growing electricity demand.

The developing post-subsidy solar market in Europe has taken another step forward with the news that UK-based investor Octopus has extended five power purchase agreements in Italy with renewable energy trader EGO Group.

With competition in the tracker marketplace becoming extremely fierce, rival companies are adding new features all the time aimed at minimising installation and operation costs, and enhancing durability. Here we profile some of the single-axis trackers currently available on the market and the innovative design features they offer.

A growing regulatory burden on PV mounting manufacturers in the US has prompted some of the leading players to set up a new trade body to represent their interests. Ben Willis reports on how the new body’s members hope to turn back the rising tide of red tape.

A panel of finance experts speaking at InterSolar Europe have given news of the Tesla-SolarCity deal mixed reviews ranging from "silly" to "brilliant".

A hybrid power plant in Nevada, USA, which combines geothermal, PV and solar thermal power has been inaugurated and become the first of its kind to combine the three generation types.

Japanese thin-film manufacturer Solar Frontier has heralded a 150MW module supply deal in the US as a major step towards its final decision on building a factory in America.

PV manufacturing capacity expansions planned this year are expected to push production levels beyond anticipated demand in 2016, creating further cost pressures for suppliers.

A 90MW PV project has been completed and inaugurated in South Africa under the country's flagship renewable energy programme.

This year looks likely to set a record for distributed solar securitisation deals as a growing number of developers look to tap the asset-backed securities market.