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%.
Saudi’s initial solar bids for the 300MW Sakaka project slipped below two US cents per kWh, but the lowest bid was rejected. We take a look at a claim that its championing of bifacial technology was the root cause.
According to China’s National Energy Administration (NEA), solar PV installations reached 52.83GW in 2017, up from 34.54GW in 2016, and accounting for around 50% of expected global solar demand last year.
Major China-based PV module manufacturer Risen Energy, which entered PV Tech’s Top 10 module manufacturer’s rankings for the first time in 2017, has reported that its operating income exceeded RMB 10 billion (US$1.56 billion) in 2017, a new record for the company.
Independent power producer ACWA Power expects to see a 2% yield improvement following the installation of Huawei’s FusionSolar Smart PV Management System.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) is forecasting global PV demand in 2018 to be at 107GW, up from its estimate of 98GW in 2017. However, BNEF has given the largest single market China a wide installation range after its massive underestimation last year.
