panasonic

Tesla reported first quarter 2017 solar installations of 150MW, down from 201MW in the previous quarter, a 25% decrease, due to selection criteria biased towards customer owned PV systems rather than leased.

In this week's Movers & Shakers segment, PV Tech focuses in solar jobs in the US, with the UK's Lightsource embarking on its pilot expansion into North America, and Panasonic's Coronal Energy likewise strengthening its North American operations with new strategic leaders. An early-stage investor exits India's Azure Power and The Solar Foundation launches a new online career platform, in other news.

Major Japanese electronics company Panasonic has increased its ‘HIT’ (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer) solar module product warranty from 15 years to 25 years and applies to all HIT modules installed from 2017.

Indian state Telangana will introduce a new rooftop payment scheme, Conergy has sold a Japan PV plant, ReneSola has regained compliance on the NYSE.

The Japanese PV market’s switch from a feed-in tariff (FiT) driven, mostly utility-scale phenomenon to one based on rooftops and self-consumption was in evidence at the PV Expo trade show in Tokyo this week.

Panasonic’s solar manufacturing deal with Tesla at the former SolarCity 1GW solar cell and module assembly plant at RiverBend, Buffalo, New York State, which was recently renamed Gigafactory 2 by Tesla is to be ramped to its 1GW nameplate capacity exclusively by Panasonic in 2019.

Southern Company-owned Gulf Power has teamed with Coronal Energy, powered by Panasonic, to develop a 120MW PV portfolio at military bases in Florida.

The lack of information in a joint press release from Tesla and Panasonic, confirming a solar cell manufacturing partnership at the SolarCity/Silevo 1GW Buffalo fab in New York State was not a surprise, especially considering it merely rubber stamped an MOU previously announced that was only subject to the successful acquisition by Tesla of SolarCity.

Tesla and Panasonic’s Gigafactory in the Nevada desert has now started making high performance cylindrical battery cells of the type used in its stationary storage and forthcoming Model 3.

Energy storage company Younico has signed off on a deal with Panasonic to design and develop a solar-plus-storage system at Peña Station NEXT in Denver, Colorado, which includes the operations hub for Panasonic Enterprise Solutions Company and Panasonic CityNOW.