The US Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has highlighted continued PV system cost reductions in its latest quarterly report, ‘US Solar Photovoltaic System Cost Benchmark Q1 2016’.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Canadian Solar said that its recently launched 72-cell 1500V multicrystalline modules would be deployed at two planned PV power plants in Australia with a cumulative capacity of 47MWp.
China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) has published a draft version of proposed feed-in tariff (FiT) levels for ground mount and distributed generation PV power plants for 2017 that could lead to significant cuts to both sectors and overall curtailment of installations.
EDF Renewable Services (EDF RS) is in the process of taking over the operations and maintenance (O&M) responsibilities for 206 solar projects spanning across 13 states from New Jersey to Hawaii that total around 200MW.
Independent global testing and certification body UL (Underwriters Laboratory) has acquired renewable energy engineering services and support firm, AWS Truepower for an unspecified sum.
China-based independent solar power producer United Photovoltaics Group said it expected FiT back payments of RMB1.328 billion (US$199.2 million) from 16 solar power plants after confirmation of payments have been authorised by the Ministry of Finance, National Development and Reform Commission and National Energy Administration on September 23.
Both yieldco subsidiaries of bankrupt renewables firm SunEdison have said they were seeking mergers or sales of their entire businesses after it became increasingly possible that SunEdison would not emerge from bankruptcy proceedings.
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) US residential solar installations are expected to increase by 21% in 2016, yet growth in 2017 is expected to be a tepid 0.3%.
The US Energy Department is planning to provide solar technology funding to the tune of US$107 million via the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (EERE) SunShot Initiative.
GE Power Conversion is introducing Silicon Carbide (SiC) technology into its next-generation 1500V PV inverter product line, bringing increased power conversion efficiency to the PV industry. The LV5+ Solar Inverter is the first multi-MW, utility scale inverter based completely on SiC technology and has an efficiency rating of 99% weighted EU and is being showcased at Solar Power International 2016.
