Africa & Middle East

JA Solar and Powerway have formed a joint venture to establish a PV module assembly plant in Port Elizabeth, South Africa with an initial nameplate capacity of 150MW.

The IFC, part of the World Bank, has signed an agreement with China’s Chint Group to develop solar farms and supply chains in emerging markets.

Phoenix Solar's Singapore-based subsidiary has been awarded the contract to build a 1MWp solar plant in Jordan, along with Jordanian company Mustakbal Clean Tech.

The State Grid Corporation of China, the world’s largest state-owned utility company, has joined the Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii).

Mozambique has officially opened the country’s first PV module production facility.

Updated. Market research firm, IHS has reiterated growth projections for PV installations in 2013 of 35GW, while forecasting growth of only 15% to just over 40GW in 2014.

Qatar will use the roofs of water reservoirs for solar energy generation Ahmed Nasser al-Nasser, technical affairs director of Kahramaa, Qatar’s general glectricity and water corporation told the Solar Qatar Summit on Monday.

The 75MW Kalkbult solar plant has become the first utility-scale PV project under South Africa’s renewable energy programme to begin generating power.

SunEdison has secured ZAR1.8 billion (US$185 million) in funding for a 60MW solar project in South Africa.

Total S.A. has become a preferred bidder in the third phase of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) to build an 86MWp PV power plant using SunPower’s ‘Oasis Power Blocks’ integrated system.