Dubai’s sub-six cents solar farm raised eyebrows when it was announced but when you examine the technology to be deployed and finance that’s paying for it, sceptics may wish to look away. John Parnell reports on what the project signifies for solar in the Middle East
New South Wales was the only Australian state to experience a significant increase in volumes of sub-100kW PV systems in 2015, with most other states contracting, according to the latest figures from Australia-based solar consultancy SunWiz.
The first of the annual round of PV market reports of 2016 has pegged deployment last year at 51GW. The figure falls short of most 2015 forecasts and looks set to reopen the perennial debate about the big-picture market data available to the global solar industry.
India’s fiercely competitive solar auctions have driven bids down to another surprise low with Finland-based developer Fortum Finnsurya Energy winning 70MW capacity in Rajasthan at a price of INR4.34/kWh (US$0.064), which is a drop of more than a 6% from the previous Indian record of INR4.63/kWh.
SMA is aiming to tackle the market for retrofitting energy storage systems in to existing home PV installations, with a new AC-coupled version of its Sunny Boy inverter suitable for high voltage batteries.
Chile’s installed solar PV capacity reached 848MW as of the end of December 2015, according to the latest update from Chilean renewable energy research institute Centro para la Innovación y Fomento de las Energías Sustentables (CIFES).
Two Las Vegas residents have launched a class action lawsuit against utility NV Energy following recent moves to restrict net metering payments to solar customers in the state.
China-based PV energy provider United Photovoltaics Group is taking PV manufacturer and PV project developer Hareon Solar Technology to the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission over failure to supply a total of 930MW of PV power plants under a previous agreement.
