Belgian start-up Sunslice has developed small, portable, high-performance solar panels that can be applied to backpacks and be used as rechargers for smartphones and watches.

The latest PV installation in West Africa by France’s Akuo features an agricultural and social component on a 5-hectare plot of land next to the project site.

Each unit contains 200 pre-assembled and pre-wired photovoltaic panels and can be deployed in 30 minutes.

French cooperative Céléwatt and engineering company Mécojit are building a new, 250 kW solar park in southwestern France. The solar panels are installed on a raw wood structure, sourced from the surrounding forests, to promote local employment and a regional natural resource.

The $40 million projects will be the country’s first large scale solar-plus-storage project.

The French renewable energy developer has agreed to acquire a 70% interest in four plants totaling 57 MW. The facilities were built by Voltalia itself between 2015 and 2016.

Econet wants to build commercial and industrial PV systems across its homeland, Kenya, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. South Africa-based investment firm Royal Bafokeng Holdings (RBH) has made a $20 million equity investment in these projects.

The solar park is being built by French developer GreenYellow and is expected to come online by mid-2021.

Founded in 2018, Edgehog Advanced Technologies has developed an omnidirectional anti-reflective glass for solar panels, which increases their production, especially at the start and end of the day.

The cuts concern installations with capacities above 250 kW. The Ministry for the Ecological Transition said such projects account for just 0.3% of all contracts signed between 2006 and 2010. The targeted savings are between €300 million to €400 million. But Enerplan, the nation’s PV association, has described it as an “attempt by the government to force its way.”