Highlights

Some of the world’s most cost-competitive solar arrays have been built among the rolling dunes of the vast Arabian Desert. While some government policies appear to be targeted at breaking records, nobody expects the oil-rich Gulf region to bring about truly sharp changes in pricing for solar PV plants.

With the third procurement round of the kingdom’s National Renewable Energy Program, the Renewable Energy Project Development Office is tendering four large-scale solar projects. Successful bidders will have to include at least 17% local content in their facilities.

Danish developer Obton and Ireland’s Shannon Energy have promised to develop the projects within five years. Total investment is expected to be around €300 million and the companies have already acquired projects with a combined generation capacity of 150 MW.

The U.S. thin-film manufacturer continues to deny having misled stockholders over solar module defects between 2008 and 2012 and said the settlement had been reached to close the historic legal action and permit the company to remove the uncertainty associated with it.

The government has abrogated a controversial measure introduced last year which favored big developers in the allocation of fiscal incentives for rooftop projects linked to building renovation.

The developer issued the appeal for developers to come forward on the peninsula after selling its second subsidy-free Spanish solar project. The seller did not reveal how much insurance company Talanx has paid for the Don Rodrigo 2 facility.

IHS Markit has predicted another year of global solar growth but a peek behind the headline figures shows uncertainty dogging the markets of China and India, two of the most important markets and biggest polluters.

The Japanese electronics giant is offering a new cell architecture developed by battery start-up 24M, in the U.S., which significantly improves battery economics. Kyocera will be the first company to bring the technology to market.

Three days after the drone attack ordered by the U.S. which killed Iranian power broker Qassem Suleimani, energy forecasting service AleaSoft said the price of Brent was rising again today. The potential shake out of rising oil costs for the solar industry is difficult to predict.

The Brazilian president said the potential introduction of a grid fee for net metered solar systems will be eliminated thanks to an urgent ad-hoc decree expected to be approved soon by parliament. The proposed ‘solar tax’ would have affected all new PV installations with a generation capacity of no larger than 5 MW under Brazil’s net metering regime.