Markets & Finance

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) has issued its first green guaranties to US investors to back climate-friendly projects, with US solar firms expected to benefit.

Leading US PV installer SolarCity has broken ground on its new 1GW fab in New York State, where it will manufacture modules with Silevo, the West Coast start-up it acquired earlier this year.

PV equipment supplier centrotherm is to cut 50 jobs from its headquarters in Blaubeuren, Germany as part of a restructuring process.

Mission Solar Energy has announced the opening of its N-Type solar manufacturing facility in Texas.

IKEA will extend its residential solar offering into eight new markets in the next 18 months following the success of the scheme in the UK.

Energy storage may not be cost effective in Germany in helping the transition to a higher grid penetration of renewable energy until that penetration level reaches as high as 90%, according to a leading think tank.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is to provide a €23 million (US$29.5 million) loan for solar development in West Africa.

The Brazilian state of Minas Gerais is to apply domestic content regulations to its solar auction in November.

Solar prices in the US in 2013 fell by a further 15% year on year, a study from the Department of Energy and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has found.

Three of Cayman Islands-registered LDK Solar’s US-based subsidiaries are to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, supporting attempts to restructure rather than fold the company.