Roth & Rau Italy S.r.l. has invested €2.5 million in a new production line for ethyl-vinyl-acetate (EVA) foils – used to laminate solar cells when assembling modules so as to protect the cells from environmental influences – in the Italian city of Monza.

Adani Power (AP), part of the Adani Group, is to commission a 40-megawatt (MW) photovoltaics (PV) power plant in the Surendranagar district of Gujarat state, located in western India. When completed, the project is expected to be one of the country’s largest PV projects.

First Solar has issued a statement relating to the use of cadmium telluride (CdTe) in photovoltaics (PV) modules following the Wuppertal Institute’s call for PV to be placed under the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive.

The global photovoltaics (PV) market is forecast to exceed 16 gigawatts (GW) this year, said IMS Research, with demand for PV systems predicted to almost double. It went on to say that the top five markets will account for more than 13 GW, but growth is expected to slowdown next year.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) in the U.S. has approved the construction and operation of four solar thermal power plants with a planned overall capacity of around 1,000 megawatts (MW) at the Blythe location in California.

China-based Hanlong Group has announced it will invest USD$100 million in the research and development of solar energy solutions, system assembly and International headquarter activities in Singapore, through its subsidiary Sichuan Zhonghan Solar Power Co. Ltd.

SunEdison has been awarded a solar service contract with Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (DMAFB) in Tucson, Arizona, the U.S. to build a 14.5-megawatt (MW) solar farm. Construction is scheduled to begin next year.

Following the news that the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy has called on the European Union (EU) to include photovoltaics (PV) under the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS), Professor Martin A. Green has told pv magazine he would like to see a fixed date for RoHS compliance.

Constellation Energy and Denver-based Oak Leaf Energy Partners are to install a 4.4-megawatt (MW) photovoltaics (PV) project at Denver International Airport in the U.S.

Using carbon nanotubes – hollow tubes of carbon atoms – Massachusetts Institute of Technology chemical engineers say they have found a way to concentrate solar energy 100 times more than a regular photovoltaic (PV) cell. Such nanotubes could reportedly form antennas that capture and focus light energy, potentially allowing much smaller and more powerful solar arrays, according to Chinese news agency, xinhuanet.