The European Commission’s merger and acquisitions body is running the rule over a plan by New York-based Blackstone Capital to take joint ownership of expansionary Esdec Solar, alongside private equity group Rivean.

Lagos-based Daystar Power is targeting 400 MW of installed generation capacity by 2025, after being acquired by Shell mere days after the Starsight-SolarAfrica merger announcement.

Trina Solar plans to build a module factory in Huaian, Anhui province, while polysilicon manufacturer GCL Energy has announced plans to build a manufacturing base in Wuhai, Inner Mongolia.

The African Development Bank has announced that European and US donors will provide $20 million of concessional loans to support pay-as-you-go solar companies in sub-Saharan Africa.

South Korea’s Hanwha Q Cells is preparing to take joint control of LynqTech in Hanover, Germany.

The 2.7 million people employed in solar in China last year dwarfed the 250,000 working in the US solar industry, according to a new report by the International Renewable Energy Agency.

Eging PV has signed a deal to build a 10 GW TOPCon solar module factory in Anhui province, while Tongwei has revealed plans to build a 25 GW cell factory in Jiangsu. Jolywood, meanwhile, has completed the first 4 GW phase of its 8 GW TOPCon cell factory in Shanxi province.

The city authority wants a developer to construct a 7 MW solar project for it as part of a push to widen its sources of electricity, and says clean energy will be cheaper than – largely coal-fired – grid power from Eskom.

Poland was the EU’s biggest solar jobs market last year, thanks to a national rooftop incentive program, but Germany’s push to repatriate solar manufacturing will help the bloc’s PV powerhouse back to the number one slot in three years’ time, according to SolarPower Europe.

Indonesia will have to get to work installing more than 24 GW of solar this year – and every year – if the region is to achieve the 2.1 TW to 2.4 TW of photovoltaics Irena has estimated it will require to achieve a net zero carbon energy system by 2050.