Solar PV installations are expected to surpass 60GW worldwide in 2016, up from the 50.6GW deployed last year, according to the latest figures from SolarPower Europe.
Morgan Stanley has predicted a boom in solar-plus-storage in Australia, calling PV a direct substitute for grid power and warning investors that the incumbent energy industry has been slow to react to trends.
Australia’s federal government plans a third AU$1 billion reallocation of money from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), prompting a backlash from solar campaigners.
Renewables firm Juwi Australia and KPS, a subsidiary of Pacific Energy, are partnering on hybrid systems using solar, battery energy storage and diesel or gas generation for remote mines in Australia.
Work has been completed on Australia’s “largest solar and battery storage project to date”, a 10.6MW PV installation at a copper mine linked to 6MW of storage, according to developer Juwi.
PV Tech’s preliminary analysis of global PV manufacturing capacity expansion announcements in April, 2016, revealed nearly 9GW of planned future expansions of thin-film modules, solar cells and module assembly production, up from over 7.3GW in the previous month and the third consecutive monthly increase.
Silicon module super league member (SMSL) JA Solar is to provide 420MW of modules for China’s National Energy Administration’s (NEA) “Front Runner” programme which aims to promote the development of advanced solar PV technology by domestic suppliers.
Sumitomo Corporation, Japan’s leading general trading company, is implementing a 60MW solar PV project in Minamisoma, Fukushima, at a ¥22 billion (US$ 201 million) investment.
