US-headquartered Hybrid Cell Technology (HCT) module producer Sunpreme has supplied 1.62MW of bifacial modules to Blue Sky Utility that have been used on the rooftop of shopping centre Hanford Mall in Hanford, California.
Shell has suggested it will become the next major oil firm to enter the new build solar market after it was reported over the weekend that the Dutch giant plans to build solar farms in Britain.
Enphase Energy has launched its seventh-generation ‘Enphase IQ’ microinverters for the Enphase Home Energy Solution with ‘IQ’. The ‘Enphase IQ 7 Micro’ and ‘Enphase IQ 7+ Micro’ are designed for worldwide markets and have started shipping to distributors in the United States. Enphase IQ 7 microinverters will continue to be phased into markets around the world through the first half of 2018.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member JA Solar was the sole supplier of PV modules to a 35MW PV plant completed in December 2017, in the Negev Desert using its P-type mono PERC (Passivated Emitter Rear Cell) modules.
Asset management firm Capital Dynamics, which has just acquired the First Solar and SunPower solar yieldco firm, 8point3 Energy Partners is to own and operate a planned 1GW PV power plant in Nevada, which includes technology infrastructure firm Switch as a major customer for the renewable energy and is based in the state.
First Solar and SunPower have agreed to sell their Joint Venture solar power plant yieldco, 8point3 Energy Partners, to energy investment firm Capital Dynamics, Inc., for US$977 million in equity value and about US$1.7 billion in enterprise value in an all cash transaction.
PV inverter manufacturer SolarEdge Technologies has partnered with Japan-based electronics firm OMRON to offer a new DC optimized inverter solution for Japan’s high-voltage PV market.
Taiwan-based market research firm, EnergyTrend expects Chinese end-market demand to contract slightly in 2018, after posting record installations for several years in a row and accounting for around 50% of global solar installations in 2017.
Russia-based integrated PV manufacturer Hevel Group, which has switched production from amorphous silicon thin-film technology to silicon heterojunction (HJ) has said it has been successful in ramping to its 160MW nameplate capacity and achieving cell conversion efficiencies of 22.8%.
