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.
Pension fund, The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), has agreed to purchase a 25% stake in Desert Sunlight Investment Holdings, the owner of two major solar PV projects with a combined capacity of 550MW near Palm Springs, California.
Tokyo-based egg producer ISE Group, French energy company Total and SunPower Corporation, have started construction of a 27MW solar PV plant at Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Honshu Island in Japan.
Integrated PV manufacturer REC Solar is to invest a total of $200 million Singapore dollars (US$182.3 million) in expanding and upgrading production at its facilities in Singapore. The company also plans to invest a further US$50 million in R&D activities at the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS), with emphasis on a type of PV module.
US residential and commercial PV provider SolarCity has raised US$131 million through a new tax equity fund in order to finance residential, commercial and military solar projects.
US-based residential solar firm Sunnova Energy has secured US$300 million from private equity firm Energy Capital Partners (ECP) to continue its growth in the residential solar sector.
US-based renewables firm SunPower is partnering Toronto-based smart thermostat provider ecobee to aid consumers in New York and California in controlling their energy costs.
Yaskawa – Solectria Solar, a wholly-owned subsidiary of robot and industrial motor company Yaskawa America, is planning to install a 500MW central solar inverter manufacturing line within an existing factory in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to help support the Latin American PV market.
Germany-based renewables firm Juwi plans to construct three utility-scale solar projects with a combined capacity of 90MW in Colorado via its US-based subsidiary.
