Americas

First Solar has announced shipment guidance for 2016 of 2.9-3.0GW for 2016 and confirmed that it has no immediate plans to expand production capacity.

Leading module supply firm Hanwha Q CELLS is to almost triple its supply agreement with Sunrun, becoming one of the developer’s main suppliers in 2016.

Bluewave, a Boston-based developer of solar projects, claimed that it has “secured US$100 million” for community solar from a subsidiary of multinational investment house Morgan Stanley.

The first Tesla Powerwall home energy storage systems to go on sale in the US through a utility are being sold through Vermont’s Green Mountain Power which is including a “no upfront cost” option for its customers.

Thin-film manufacturer and developer First Solar is among the investors in a US$50 million funding round for grid-scale storage specialist Younicos, with the money raised set to fuel the latter’s expansion.

Brazil’s Development Bank (BNDES) has raised US$100 million from three Japanese banks in order to invest in clean energy projects.

Leading cell technologists from all of the big-six Silicon Module Super League (SMSL) suppliers (Canadian Solar, Hanwha Q-Cells, JA Solar, JinkoSolar, Trina Solar and Yingli Green) have now been confirmed as speakers at PV Tech’s inaugural solar cell conference, PVCellTech, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 16-17 March 2016.

The chairman and secretary-general of the new Global Solar Council speak exclusively to PV Tech ahead of its launch in Paris this weekend.

A 3MWp solar power plant connected to energy storage has been completed at Antigua’s VC Bird International airport, part of a wider 10MWp project for the island.

US PV provider SunPower has started construction on the 100MW Boulder solar energy plant in the Eldorado Valley of Boulder City, Nevada.