Tom Kenning

Automotive equipment supplier JBM Group has announced plans to enter the solar market by building a combined 300MW of solar capacity in India over the next three years.

Semiconductor equipment makers Applied Materials and Tokyo Electron have agreed to terminate plans for a merger after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) warned about loss of competition from the procedure.

Joint ventures involving Spain-based energy company Aljaval have received electric energy generation approval for eight solar power projects with a combined capacity of 220MW in Mexico. Javier Mas Abad, Aljaval deputy director, spoke to PV Tech about the strong future for solar in Mexico despite difficulties in gaining finance.

A joint venture has completed construction of two floating solar power plants in Kato City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.

The Palestinian Energy Authority (PEA) has signed an agreement with a Palestinian American renewable energy company to provide 30MW of solar power in Gaza, according to local reports.

SunPower today announced plans to partner with Apple to build two 20MW solar power projects in ABA Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefectures in Sichuan Province, China.

ET Solar has agreed to build a 70MWp solar power project in the Philippines with local partner, renewable energy developer Gate Solar Philippines.

SolarCity has announced a partnership with Google-owned Nest to trial new customers in California using Nest’s smart thermostats in conjunction with solar power consumption. Omar Saadeh, senior grid analyst at GTM Research, spoke to PV Tech about the trend for solar companies partnering with smart home technologies and the increasing consumer appeal of energy management systems.

SolarCity has announced a new partnership with smart-metering company Nest starting with an offer of 10,000 Nest thermostats to new customers in California.

Nigeria's largely peaceful presidential election at the end of March was a victory for democracy. It could also have positive implications for the deployment of solar energy in Africa's most populous nation and in West Africa as a whole, writes Tom Kenning.