Average spot polysilicon price has crossed below the $8/kg threshold for the first time, according to PVInsights. Market analyst Johannes Bernreuter said, however, that the industry should not read too much into $8/kg as a historical threshold and that prices may rise again in September, driven by strong demand in the Chinese market.

South Korea’s largest PV project is scheduled for commissioning by next year. The project developer – Korean floating PV specialist Scotra – is also planning a 2.5 MW offshore solar project with the support of the government.

The country’s agency for rural electrification is seeking proposals for a 1.3 MW solar project and a 1.5 MW/2 MWh storage system.

The Dubai Water and Electricity Authority will use energy from the gigawatt-scale Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park to provide a new hydropower plant with pumped storage capacity. The state-owned utility has announced a number of innovations for the project in recent months, including plans for hydrogen and large-scale storage capacity.

The power company has launched three procurement auctions for a total of 2.9 GW of power generation capacity. Renewable energy companies are among the bidders to have expressed interest in providing electricity.

MIT researchers say climate change could reduce the yield of solar modules. Analysis based on the warming scenarios outlined by the IPCC predicts in some areas the annual energy output of PV systems may fall by up to 50 kWh per kilowatt installed.

Researchers have developed a high-resolution geospatial method of assessing the solar potential of all buildings in the EU and concluded rooftop PV could provide a quarter of the bloc’s electricity needs. The scientists say grid parity for rooftop solar has been reached outside eastern member states with cheap fossil fuel electricity.

State-owned gas and power provider Sonegalz intends to develop five hybrid projects in off-grid areas in the south of the country. The highest bid came in at the equivalent of $0.13/kWh.

A research team from Columbia University has designed organic molecules that can produce excitons with a longer lifecycle than inorganic equivalents. The excitons have the potential to amplify the amount of electricity generated by the photons a solar cell absorbs.

Atlas Renewable Energies has agreed to provide the Chilean unit of French energy giant Engie with 550 GWh annually for 15 years. The electricity will be supplied by the Sol del Desierto project Atlas is building in northern Chile.