BIPV

Tesla reported another major decline in its residential solar installations for the fourth quarter of 2017, while a supply shortage in its energy storage system ‘Powerwall’ has created a customer backlog of solar and storage installs of more than one year.

Multinational construction firm Skanska AB is to test semi-transparent perovskite solar modules from start-up Saule Technologies on commercial office buildings with the first applications planned to be installed in Poland in 2018.

The planned merger of Taiwan-based PV manufacturers Gintech Energy, Neo Solar Power (NSP) and Solartech Energy to be called United Renewable Energy Co (UREC) is to receive an investment from the Taiwan government, according to reports.

German investment company Aquila Capital has acquired four PV projects in central and southern Portugal that will boast a combined generation capacity of 170MW.

Solaria Corporation’s ‘PowerVision’ series of customized architectural solar (BIPV), power generating glass solutions for building facades that can enable net zero energy or meet ‘WELL’ building standards and are eligible for ‘LEED’ points in energy efficiency saving buildings and structures. PowerVision glass can be widely used in nearly every aspect of a building envelope beyond the rooftop to generate electricity.

Sweden-based PV manufacturer Midsummer has developed a flexible CIGS thin film solar cell process that provides a complete solution for BIPV/BAPV metal roof systems together with the Swedish Metal roofing company Clix Steel Profile AB that is certified for slopes as low as 5°.

US-based PV installer RGS Energy has struck an exclusive deal with Dow Chemical to exclusively sell its third generation (3.0) solar shingles under the ‘POWERHOUSE’ brand said to use conventional crystalline silicon solar cells rather than the original CIGS (Copper, Indium, Gallium, Selenide) thin-film substrates.

PV Tech’s new two-day event PV ModuleTech 2017 – in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 7-8 November 2017 – is set to outline the key issues in new high-efficiency PV modules that will dominate utility-scale solar farms deployment globally over the period 2018-2020.

French multinational electric utility company Engie has deployed Heliatek’s organic OPV thin-film technology as part of new façade at Engie's research center in Linkebeek, Belgium.

News in Brief: Bill Clinton opens Westchester's largest solar array – a 2.7MW facility at Swiss RE's US headquarters; Nexamp completes a 700kW community solar facility in Massachusetts, Michigan introduces a bill to up its RPS and Solaria deploys its architectural solar products at Cornell Tech's campus in New York.