Highlights

The picture that Walmart is painting of Tesla/SolarCity installation and O&M practices in its U.S. lawsuit is not a pretty one.

The state-owned State Power Investment Corp Ltd has received a bid of 25 cents per watt for monocrystalline panels in a tender to procure 3.04 GW of PV module capacity.

The latest figures show the solar policy vacuum, and related dearth of demand in China earlier this year accelerated price reductions for cell makers. Although prices are expected to rebound in line with renewed thirst for solar in China, cell makers such as Tongwei are feeling the pain.

Women provide an invaluable perspective in the PV industry’s workforce. Studies have shown that the number of qualified women in leadership yields better performance, and that female representation leads to greater collaboration and fairness within the workplace. Yet there still exists a great divide and inadequate representation. This year’s In Conversation section in the August edition of pv magazine highlights the significant contributions of leading women in the solar industry across its many segments, geographies, backgrounds and professions. Watch out for the interviews, which will be published over the coming Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The utility has revealed plans to invest roughly $3 billion in the construction of a 5 GW solar park across two to three locations in the Kutch region of the Indian state of Gujarat. In a separate announcement, the New Delhi-based group opened global bidding to build 1.2 GW of grid-connected solar capacity throughout India.

In the early years of the 21st century, distributed generation systems in Latin America were mainly installed off-grid in remote rural areas, writes Maria Chea, solar analyst at IHS Markit. As the El Niño phenomenon and high oil prices continued to exacerbate high electricity prices and power shortages, governments began to turn their attention to distributed generation, including PV systems, to assuage strains on their national grid networks.

The Chinese manufacturer is forging ahead with a new gigafactory despite a regulatory decision last year which halted its plans to raise a significant chunk of the costs by issuing convertible bonds. Risen expects to be back on the upswing when it confirms its first-half figures.

Elon Musk is trying just about everything to reimagine the solar business. But will this one work?

Troubled thin film manufacturer Thin Film will see a 51% controlling stake in a hugely profitable hydropower project auctioned off after a move by creditors. Hanergy Thin Film owner Li Hejun’s Hanergy Mobile Energy business in China says it will be among the bidders.

With a combination of scale, a growing population, outstanding irradiation, and available capital, solar PV should be a ‘no brainer’ for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. But early explorations of the technology have soured expectations, and progress has come in fits and starts.