Americas

US thin-film manufacturer First Solar has achieved a 21.0% conversion rate in a cadmium-telluride (CdTe) PV cell, a new record.

All states in the US should emulate the country’s solar top performers and adopt “aggressive” policies to drive PV deployment, according to a report.

The Massachusetts state legislature broke for the summer without approving a raft of new solar policies. An extension to the state’s net metering programme offered scant consolation.

The Canadian province of Ontario is preparing to install a variety of new energy storage technologies after finalising details of a 34MW grid storage trial.

A new report analysing water scarcity in the power sector identifies PV as a major solution for avoiding water-related conflict.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has lodged charges against a company that it claims sought to dupe investors into backing a non-existent solar plant joint venture.

One of the largest investor-owned utilities in the USA is looking to use a series of measures that are likely to include customer-side energy storage in order to stave off the need for US$1 billion worth of infrastructure investment.

Solar manufacturer and developer, SunPower has begun construction of a 135MW solar power plant.

The US Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Pacific has given a contract to Pacific Energy Solutions LLC for the procurement of energy generated from multiple renewable-energy projects.

Large-scale solar developer, SolarReserve, has signed a supply contract to sell power from a 20MW plant it is building in El Salvador.