Each year forecasts for how much new PV capacity will be added around the world are released. These are subsequently revised, updated, defended and invariably increased. The forecasts for 2014 from various banks and research firms however are quite different. The difference between the high-end and the low-end of expectations is massive – potentially 15GW – or put another way nearly half the amount installed in total the previous year.
Investment groups Equis Funds and Partners Group have raised ¥26.1 billion (US$250 million) of equity to fund utility-scale solar power stations for developer Nippon Renewable Energy through a joint investment platform, Japan Solar.
Wildly varying reports of Kenya’s plans for deploying solar energy have been dismissed by power industry and policy figures in the East African country.
The UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) wants ‘established’ renewables to compete against each other for support under its upcoming contracts for difference (CfD) regime.
After a mediocre 2013, India’s solar industry failed to get off to the positive start it was hoping for in 2014 when an auction under its national solar programme was delayed by a month. Ritesh Pothan sets out how India can avoid the mistakes of 2013 in 2014 and end this year on a firmer footing.
International manufacturer SolarWorld has launched a fresh petition to end what it claims are anti-competitive activities by Chinese and Taiwanese PV manufacturers in the US.
Government-owned Puerto Rican electric power company Autoridad de Energia Electrica (AEE) has made it mandatory for developers of renewable energy projects to incorporate energy storage into new installations.
Concentrated solar power has had a difficult year in the US, with several high-profile projects being turned down or shelved. But as Felicity Carus reports, it's a technology that still has some distance to run.
