Projects

Plans by Italy’s grid operator to allow for the interconnection of energy storage to the network have resulted in the country’s first grid-connected solar-smoothing storage facility being inaugurated.

President Francois Hollande inaugurated a 12MW solar farm in central France last week which uses PV panels assembled domestically by SunPower.

ConEdison Development, a subsidiary of mammoth US utility company ConEdison developing and operating solar and wind power projects, has acquired a 50% stake in a 335MW DC solar farm in California.

ThomasLloyd CTI Asia Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of global investment banking and investment management group ThomasLloyd, has sold the rights to two solar projects on Negros Occidental in the Philippines with a combined capacity of 80MW.

Global marine terminal operator DP World has announced plans to launch a major renewable energy project equipped with PV panels in Dubai.

The Mesquite Solar 2 addition is expected to be completed in late 2016, prior to the step-down of the US Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for utility projects from 30% to 10%.

Renewable energy company Coronal Group and Panasonic Eco Solutions have announced a new portfolio of eight PV projects currently under construction in North Carolina.

Hanwha Q Cells has sold 33MWdc of solar farms in Panama that the company says was developed without “federal, state, local or corporate incentives”.

Solar power company Canadian Solar has entered into a long-term product supply deal with solar energy provider Vivint Solar.

A solar farm connected to a huge battery will be built on the Hawaiian island of Kauai to use solar in the evenings to meet peak demand, under a 20-year contract between SolarCity and an electric utility co-operative.