Americas

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) announced its support for new legislation presented in the Massachusetts State Senate and House of Representatives that would permit public and private distributed generation (DG) projects to continue, while also expanding the solar energy industry across the state.

The general director of Mexico’s state-owned electric utility, the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), has announced plans to promote renewable energy generation in the country by forming strategic public-private partnerships.

Solar power production in California hit a new record on 8 March 2014, as output peaked at 4,093MW.

Flexible CIGS thin-film firm, Ascent Solar surpassed US$1 million in annual revenue for the second time since it started operations in 2005.

Solar crowdfunding service Mosaic is to offer loans to homeowners in California for PV systems.

The US Department of Energy (DoE) has revealed its 2015 budget with more funds allocated for solar but a crucial Investment Tax Credit (ITC) axed.

Major US residential PV provider, Vivint Solar has secured new tax equity transactions that would enable the company to fund around US$280 million worth of PV system installations.

US testing and certification firm Underwriters Laboratory (UL) has expanded the scope of its warning over the use of counterfeit safety marks on PV modules made by Florida-based Blue Chip Energy.

Infrastructure management company, based in South Africa, Engevix has installed a pilot PV plant in Brazil.

SunPower has developed and built three PV systems at Solano Community College in California.