Total corporate funding in the solar industry reached $22.3 billion in the first nine months of 2024, down 23% year on year. Mercom Capital Group says global uncertainties are affecting investor confidence, but an increase in debt financing and resilience in newly announced large-scale project funding are bright spots for the sector.

Researchers from Canada’s Western University assessed eighteen case studies across thirteen US states and found in areas an economic case for disconnecting from the electricity grid in some areas with high solar irradiation and high electricity rates. They say economic grid defection and utility death spirals are becoming salient issues in the US.

Hungary’s Ministry of Energy says it will support more than 25,000 households with residential solar installations through its subsidy scheme, which launched earlier this year, taking the total number of installations to in excess of 300,000.

An implementation agreement is in place between Serbia’s Ministry of Mining and Energy, utility company Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) and a consortium of Hyundai Engineering and UGT Renewables for six new solar plants totalling 1 GW. Up to 200 MW of battery storage will be developed across the sites. 

International Finance Corp. (IFC) and Raiffeisen Bank International have signed off on a €90 million ($97.8 million) debt package to support the development of a 225 MW facility in northeastern Bulgaria.

Emirates is partnering with Etihad Clean Energy Development to bring a large-scale solar energy project to the Emirates Engineering Centre in Dubai. It will have a capacity in excess of 23 MW – enough to generate more than one-third of the facility’s annual energy consumption.

A policy paper by SolarPower Europe and the Nature Conservancy says clear policies are needed at the EU level to define, incentivize and scale up nature-inclusive solar projects.

JinkoSolar says it has supplied 3 GW of modules for two Acwa Power projects in Saudi Arabia, using its n-type Tiger Neo series 78 and series 66 solar modules.

Work has begun on a 20 MW solar plant in Liberia, on the site of an existing 88 MW hydropower station. The Liberian government says it is the first of several planned projects that will help to address the country’s power shortages, particularly in the dry season.

Production is now underway at Sweden’s first large-scale agrivoltaics park, owned and operated by Svea Solar. A power purchase agreement is in place with a local vertical farmer for the electricity produced, while the farm underneath the solar panels will produce rapeseed, ley and wheat on a rotational basis.