Tom Kenning joined Solar Media in April 2015. In his current role as Deputy Editor for PV Tech he covers emerging solar and energy storage markets around the world, with a particular focus on India and southeast Asia.
The New South Wales Department of Planning & Environment has approved three separate solar projects amounting to 492MW capacity, including one project with 100MWh of battery storage.
Australia's Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has made its largest equity investment in renewable energy, with AU$100 million (US$72 million) in the Australian Renewables Income Fund (ARIF), aiming to encourage institutional investors to further expand their reach into clean energy.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will no longer finance thermal coal mining or coal-fired electricity generation and will focus instead on renewable energy as part of its new five-year decarbonisation energy strategy.
InfraCo Africa backs 50MW Cameroon project, Czech Republic installs 7MW of solar plants so far in 2018, Brazilian beer company Ambev eyes solar.
Specialist gallium arsenide (GaAs) PV manufacturer Alta Devices, a subsidiary of Hanergy Group, has achieved another new solar cell conversion efficiency record of 29.1%, which was certified by Fraunhofer ISE CalLab.
PV inverter supplier SMA Solar is to lay off 425 full-time staff and discontinue China as a location as part of a restructuring plan announced in September in order to return the company to profitability quickly.
Sonnedix and Allianz Global Investors have bought a 41MW solar park from BayWa r.e. in the French commune of Hourtin, northwest of Bordeaux.
After a solar risk mitigation plan was announced at the first International Solar Alliance (ISA) summit in March 2018, the World Bank and French development bank AFD are now working together on a scheme to help remove barriers to solar in developing countries, which is held back by perceived risk.
China-based PV manufacturer Seraphim Solar will supply smart modules to a 9MW PV plant project developed by the Kanowna Solar PL in New South Wales, Australia.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is providing nearly half the funding necessary for a scheme to deploy solar mini-grids across 100 villages in Burkina Faso.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will invest THB5 billion (US$155 million) in Thai firm B.Grimm Power's maiden 5-year and 7-year green bonds – the first certified climate bonds to be issued in Thailand – in order to finance renewable energy projects in the Southeast Asian country.
India plans to tender 30GW of solar in each of the next two years to give developers time to complete projects ahead of the flagship 2022 targets.
The UK government is to provide £100 million of funding to the Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP) to support up to 40 new renewable energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa including small-scale solar, wind, geothermal and biomass sources up to 2023, along with £105 million for certified green buildings in emerging markets.
House Bill 8197 granting private firm Solar Philippines a 25-year PV mini-grid and transmission franchise across the Philippines passed through its third and final reading on Monday.
Independent energy advisory and certification body DNV GL has launched its first mobile laboratory service for the on-site testing of PV modules across India.
