News in Brief: NRG commissions a 3.15MW Florida solar plant with Lakeland Electric, Power Africa reaches 30,000 new solar connections in Nigeria, PayGo solar company Azuri nets US$5 million for off-grid expansion in Africa, UPS will expand its solar capacity five-fold and India's BHEL bags its biggest single rooftop PV order.
Investors from Solarcentury and Actis imparted wisdom on how to manage the risks and reap the benefits of African PV at Solar Media’s Solar Finance & Investment Europe event.
Solar product distributor d.light has raised another US$10.5 million, bringing its total to US$40 million in four months for off-grid ventures in Africa and Asia.
Mexico's energy ministry is targeting distributed generation with new guidelines to boost small-scale solar and achieve savings. Minnesota and South Carolina break solar records in 2016 and Ikea installs Washington's largest rooftop solar array, while Duke Energy is to build its third PV facility in Florida.
The tax on solar self-consumption in the Balearic Islands of Spain has been doubled by a ministerial order, causing uproar from Spain’s PV industry association UNEF.
The India government and the US Government’s development finance institution, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), have launched a US$20 million finance initiative to fund renewable energy projects in India.
Renewable energy company Welink has announced a joint venture with Your Housing Group – claimed to be valued at £2.5 billion – which could see the development of 25,000 solar-powered homes using BIPV in the UK each year by 2022.
