According to Reuters, China will launch trading of certificates for solar and wind power from July 1st 2017, in a bid to reduce government subsidies going to the renewables sector. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced the trading program on Friday.

The U.S. thin film manufacturer has expanded its development center in Santa Clara, California, and acquired production equipment from First Solar and Bloo Solar.

The German production manufacturer has announced the development of a new process for the texturing of diamond wire cut multi silicon wafers. Schmid says that it will ship the first systems featuring the new technology in the second quarter of 2017.

Swedish production manufacturer Midsummer today announced that its client, an Asian module manufacturer, is producing lightweight flexible modules with CIGS technology with a conversion efficiency of 14%.

The Swiss technology company will provide its MAiA 2.1 technology to two customers in Asia.

U.S. storage specialist Eos Energy this week announced a partnership with Siemens to integrate, install and service utility-scale energy storage solutions.

Fenix International, a silicon-valley technology company backed by venture capital, today announced that it has sold its solar financing model to 100,000 residential customers in Uganda.

Another big week for solar, as we are inundated with full year statistics from 2016, and the first of 2017’s major industry trade shows gets underway.

Spruce Finance, which provides consumer financing for residential solar and energy efficiency projects, has raised a total of US$445 million dollars in tax equity and project debt transactions to support its activities in 2017.

A new report published by market analysts Frost & Sullivan expects outlook for clean energy markets to remain positive in 2017, in the face of global uncertainty. The report also states that Asia will lead the economically driven expansion of clean and green energy technologies.