California has become the first state to generate more than 5% of its annual utility-scale electricity from solar, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Electric Power Monthly.
Panasonic Eco Solutions Canada is working together with PNC Equipment Finance, a division of the PNC Bank Canada Branch, in order to provide a new financing platform for PV plants as small as 500kW in Ontario, Canada.
Vertically-integrated PV project developer Solar Power, Inc. (SPI) has announced that its subsidiary SPI Solar Power Engineering has reached an agreement with Jingzhaolai PV Power Co., Ltd. of Inner Mongolia to offer engineering, procurement and development (EPC) services for its 20MW PV plant in Liangcheng County, Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia.
SKI Corp, Japanese a mobile phone sales agency, has signalled its intent to build a 24MW solar farm in the west of Japan and to borrow ¥8 billion (US$67 million), for the purposes of doing so.
Thin-film maker Hanergy, which has been the subject of recent press reports over “unusual” share trading, has opened a number of retail stores in its homeland, China.
Market research firm IHS expects continued adoption of single-axis PV module trackers for large-scale ground mounted PV power plants globally, while it expects the systems to become the preferred technology in North America through the next five years.
The cost of solar in Japan declined as much as 15% in one year, but a lack of clear policy direction from the government has left a number of businesses with a “pessimistic” outlook of the industry’s future, according to a survey by the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF).
Brazil can expect to see the capacity of PV projects contracted under its national power auction process more than double by the end of this year, according to the head of the country’s solar trade body.
Solar investors in South Africa are losing confidence in the country's market due to ongoing delays by the government to reveal successful bidders in the latest round of its national renewables procurement programme, claims South African PV Industry Association (SAPVIA) spokesman Wido Schnabel.
