Africa & Middle East

Masdar, an Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy and sustainable technology specialist, is reportedly planning to inaugurate and connect its 100MW Shams 1 CSP project on 17 March.

Electronics giant Panasonic has launched its 100 Thousand Solar Lantern Project which will see the company donate a total of 100,000 solar LED lanterns to people around the world with no access to electricity.

The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Morocco’s Research Institute of Solar Energy and New Energy (IRESEN) have announced a collaboration on thin-film research.

Project developer SKY Energy International and Metals Engineering Corporation (METEC) are celebrating the fabrication of the first solar panel in Ethiopia.

PV module and wafer manufacturer ReneSola has announced a 15kW contract with Taibah University in Medina, Makkah Province, Saudi Arabia.

Continuing Kuwait government efforts to build-out a renewable energy mix for the future, Kuwait University (KU) has teamed with European R&D centre, imec on its silicon solar cell industrial affiliation program.

German PV equipment manufacturer SMA Solar Technology (SMA) has equipped a solar-diesel hybrid plant in Thabazimbi, South Africa with PV modules and inverters.

Two separate PV power plants to be built in the Northern Cape of South Africa will use 100MW worth of ‘V’ series modules from Suntech Power Holdings.

Kuwait has set a target to generate 15% of its electricity demand from renewable energy including solar by 2030.

Thin film manufacturer First Solar has established an operating subsidiary in Cape Town, South Africa. The move follows a recent swathe of large utility-scale PV announcements in South Africa, as part of the country’s first round of renewable energy project bidding.