The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) has approved loan facilities worth R9,668.50 billion (US$980 million) earmarked for 13 solar projects in South Africa. Combined, the projects have a total capacity of 762.6MW.
SRU Solar and Berlin-based Parabel have jointly completed a 29MW solar farm between the cities of Eisleben Wimmelburg, bringing back to life a 100ha former metal works site.
DayStar Technologies and Ontario, Canada’s, Grasshopper Energy entered into an LOI agreement in which DayStar will buy Grasshopper Energy in, an expected, 30 days. The purchase will be a 100% equity transaction. Grasshopper Energy is known for its turnkey solutions and is said to have one of the largest presences in Ontario. The company has over 100 microFiT contracts awarded to date worth CAN$50 million and additional microFiT and FiT applications exceeding 3,500 projects, which make a potential pipeline worth over CAN$100 million.
SMA Solar Technology issues a rather dire outlook for 2013, noting that because of the large subsidy cuts for PV, and the expected European downturn because of the cuts, the company’s managing board anticipates sales to drop to somewhere between €0.9 billion and €1.3 billion in 2013.
The surge in solar activities in Japan is continuing with Tokyo-based Marubeni Corporation announcing plans to create a “mega-solar power business” by building an 81.5MW solar plant in Oita City, Japan.
Housing charity Habitat for Humanity is launching an initiative to provide solar installations for households in Ofunato, a Japanese city that was badly hit by last year’s tsunami.
At his keynote speech at Solar Power International in Florida this year, former President Bill Clinton put forward a proposal to energize the solar PV industry: “Americans need to know more than they now know”.
