Solar in West Africa may have been slow to kick off, but the last year has seen notable deployment across the region. Mahama Kappiah, executive director of the West Africa's Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency discusses what potential solar has to revolutionise the energy sector in a region that suffers from severe power deficits.
French energy company Total has acquired interest in two solar companies, Off Grid Electric and Powerhive, via its venture capital fund Total Energy Ventures (TEV), which invests in start-ups.
Distributed generation connections in Brazil, which are dominated by solar technology, grew 308% in 2015, according to new figures released by Brazil’s energy regulator the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL).
A team of teachers volunteering to educate refugees and displaced peoples among the camps of Calais in northern France, will power a mobile school with a solar-plus-storage system.
Valentin Software will launch the next generation of its design software PV*SOL premium at the end of 2015. New features are designed to make the process of designing a PV system easier and faster. The shading analysis of roof and ground-mounted systems in 3D mode remains the central feature as it calculates how often the modules are covered by shade, and how this affects the system yield, presenting the results graphically. All shading objects can be freely selected and placed anywhere on the ground or building.
Google is expanding its online solar service that helps customers assess cost and benefits of installing solar on rooftops to be able to reach more homeowners.
Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) has launched a programme encouraging consumers to generate their own power from renewable energy sources, with a particular emphasis on solar.
