Official stats find 210% rise in large-scale PV workforce in past two years but associations warn rules for mandatory electricians could stifle growth.
PV inverter supplier SMA Solar is to lay off 425 full-time staff and discontinue China as a location as part of a restructuring plan announced in September in order to return the company to profitability quickly.
The distributed renewable energy (DRE) sector, necessary in a world with millions of people without power, is being held back by a chronic shortage of skilled workers. Indeed, Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa) has just 16,000 people working in renewable energy in a region with 600 million un-electrified people, according to the founders of a new campaign aiming to fill this skills gap.
India’s 175GW by 2022 renewable energy target could create up to 330,000 jobs in the next five years, predominantly in the rooftop PV sector, according to a report from India's CEEW and NRDC.
This week's Movers & Shakers covers both expansions into new territories and new business ventures. A long-term member of the Nevada Public Utilities Commission resigns, while the SEIA gains two new board members. Also, GRID Alternatives and Washington DC launch a new solar training programme for low-income residents.
GRID Alternatives Mid-Atlantic, a subsidiary of the US’ largest non-profit solar installer, is launching its national Women in Solar programme – an effort to increase gender diversity in the solar supply chain – with the help of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).
This week's Movers & Shakers segment features executive shuffles in energy storage companies and an O&M firm, while examining a new merger between Spain's Gamesa and Siemens Wind Power. Spain's Renewable Energy Association elects a new president for the next four years, and Jon Wellinghoff exits SolarCity amid the US$2 billion Tesla acquisition.
Behind the scenes of Enel Green Power Mexico's ground-breaking Villanueva solar farm. Paolo Romanacci, Enel’s head of renewable energies for Central America, explains how the project was won and how it serves the local community as much as the wider energy market.
The theme of this week's Movers & Shakers is international expansion. PAYG off-grid solar provider Azuri Technologies is strengthening its leadership team to target West Africa, while Vancouver, Canada-based Solar Alliance Energy targets US assets and expands its sales team to accommodate for this. ABB appoints new regional heads to ensure direct market contact with Europe and the AMEA region.
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.
This week's Movers & Shakers features new CEOs and the inauguration of new international offices. Sunworks and the Australian CEFC both welcome new CEOs and Enel Green Power North America opens its new office in Massachusetts, with Array Technologies expanding Down Under.
This week's Movers & Shakers focuses on big career moves in Germany, India and the US. SMA Americas plans a major push into the US market, the International Solar Alliance welcomes a new interim director and India's Hartek Group takes on BHEL's Jeet Chhatwal to develop innovative automated systems and procedures for day-to-day activities which further improve productivity and bring more efficiency.
This week's Movers & Shakers segment sees big waves in Europe with a new president for SolarPower Europe and Lightsource hiring a new strategy officer in its move to evolve from a pure solar company to a global energy leader. There's resignations in some of Asia's biggest module manufacturers including Trina Solar and Yingli Green, and the Coalition for Community Solar Access celebrates its first anniversary and talks to PV Tech on how to keep the community solar boom going.
In this week's Movers & Shakers, PV Tech investigates Bill Gates' US$1 billion clean energy fund Breakthrough Energy Ventures, by speaking to new Science lead Eric Toone. We also report on Glasspoint Solar and Lark Energy's US expansions, new executive appointments in Asian firms Kyocera and 3TIER India, and thousands of energy jobs in the pipeline in the wake of Spain's renewable energy tenders.
This week's Movers & Shakers includes a celebration of clean energy with the #CleanEnergyJobs campaign revealing that the industry employs over 3 million Americans to date. The segment also includes NRG and ABB appointing new board members, Germany's KACO expanding into Asian markets and the SEIA hiring Dana Sleeper as its new head of external affairs.
