News in Brief: NRG commissions a 3.15MW Florida solar plant with Lakeland Electric, Power Africa reaches 30,000 new solar connections in Nigeria, PayGo solar company Azuri nets US$5 million for off-grid expansion in Africa, UPS will expand its solar capacity five-fold and India's BHEL bags its biggest single rooftop PV order.
Investors from Solarcentury and Actis imparted wisdom on how to manage the risks and reap the benefits of African PV at Solar Media’s Solar Finance & Investment Europe event.
Doubt has been cast on the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) ‘Scaling Solar’ programme after a panel of investors revealed it could be fostering a race to the bottom for unrealistic tariffs, diverting focus from essential bankability.
Gigawatt Global, a multinational renewable energy company and partner of Obama’s Power Africa initiative, has broken ground on its 1GW solar programme with the 7.5MW solar project in Burundi.
In this week's Movers & Shakers segment, PV Tech focuses mainly on executive shifts in US solar companies involved in storage, trackers, residential loans and more. The African Development Bank is also revamping its management board, with a new head of Renewables.
Solar product distributor d.light has raised another US$10.5 million, bringing its total to US$40 million in four months for off-grid ventures in Africa and Asia.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and FMO, the Dutch development bank have invested a collective €14.62 million (US$15.52 million) in Mobisol, a German pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar service company, in order to deliver renewable energy solutions to off-grid communities in East Africa.
