Africa & Middle East

The US and Israel have announced a US$4 million fund for five clean energy projects, including solar PV and CSP, as part of the Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) programme.

Phoenix Solar and Asunim Turkey bring the country's largest solar plant online, SECI opens a tender for small-scale rooftop solar, Brazil regulators investigate the value of distributed generation and I&M brings its fourth solar plant this year online.

As demand for glass/glass modules increases, a rethink on encapsulant materials may be required, suggests Dow.

Dubai-based international solar developer Phanes Group has acquired and will co-develop three 100MW grid-operated PV projects in Nigeria.

Leading pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar provider PEG Africa has raised US$1.5 million in debt financing that will provide for enough solar home systems for 75,000 residents in Ghana.

Phoenix Solar joins Singapore-based floating PV testers, GIPCL issues LoIs to Vikram Solar over 80MW in Gujarat, Brazil solar industry needs BRL6 billion after December auction, Altus Power starts 6.2MW solar plant construction in Hawaii,

State-owned PV manufacturer HT-SAAE is pursuing the government’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ industrial strategy as it looks to diversify the geographic spread of its end customers.

Scatec Solar and Norwegian private equity firm KLP Norfund Investments have signed a 25-year PPA for a 40MW solar PV plant in Mozambique.

The participation of venture capital (VC) investors seems to have cooled, while project funding has conversely seen a sharp rise, in the latest quarterly report into funding and mergers and acquisitions from Mercom Capital.

Abu Dhabi’s clean energy firm Masdar has secured the power purchase agreement for a 200MW solar plant in Jordan.