california

Community solar is emerging as a promising new source of demand in the US, opening up access to solar among previously excluded groups. John Parnell reports on the prospects for a new market segment whose time seems to have come.

Growing 43% year over year in 2016, the US solar industry is taking off at a pace no one could have foreseen. Naysayers may cite the industry’s slow start, hampered by high upfront costs and initial niche appeal as reasons why solar still will not experience a consumer boom. But panellists at the opening session of the 13th annual Solar Power International convention made it clear just how solar energy could exceed expectations and is poised for not only growth, but mainstream acceptance.

The solar industry must grow up and revamp its approach to lobbying, a panel of US solar and utility experts have said.

Summer wildfires across the West Coast of the US have significantly impacted the output of solar PV projects in the region with smoke cover reducing irradiance levels, according to environmental and industrial measurement firm Vaisala.

Canadian Solar subsidiary Recurrent Energy announced that its 100MW/134 MWp Mustang solar installation in Kings County, California, has reached commercial operation.

Powerway and Steelcons partner in Brazil, California Metropolitan gets solar, NTPC and CSIRO collaborate on R&D.

D.E. Shaw buys 11MW Rancho Seco solar project from First Solar, 8minutenergy wins 26MW solar farm in California, India's NTPC issues first Green Masala Bonds, NREL launches energy profiles of US cities.

Sky Capital America, the US subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Sky Solar Holdings, has acquired 22.5MW of developmental stage permits for solar projects in California and Vermont from an unnamed California-based solar developer.

The solar segment is not short of new hires and comings and goings, with solar industry stakeholders responding to the shifts in a dynamic global market. In our inaugural Movers & Shakers segment, PV Tech attempts to bring the industry back to its roots and rounds up key career moves of the last fortnight.

Solar Frontier Americas — US subsidiary of the world’s largest CIS solar energy solutions provider, Solar Frontier — announced that two utility-scale solar projects from its development pipeline have started construction.