Installations

The Australian large scale solar market segment is set to have a “breakout year” in 2016, with over 450 MW of project deals set to be signed. Green Energy Markets made the forecast today noting, however, that this level of development will be insufficient to meet the country’s Renewable Energy Target leaving electricity consumers to pick up the tab when shortfall penalties are incurred.

Collaboration marks greater effort of solar industry to work with grids on gaining greater understanding and control of solar’s intermittency; partnership can digitalize electricity supply, SMA says.

Tesla has reported that its Energy business unit achieved a “positive gross margin” in Q4 2015, while the company has delivered its 11th quarterly net loss. Tesla pointed to its Energy segment as a key lead generator for the firm, with its Powerwall and Powerpack products delivering more than double the amount of potential Tesla customer inquiries than its automotive business.

The U.S. Supreme Court has put President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan on hold until it determines the plan’s legal merits, expected this summer. Despite the surprise, many are confident the decision won’t affect coal’s continued decline in the States amid a burgeoning renewable industry.

Japanese finance and leasing company, Orix has said it aims to invest around US$872 million in installing 550 MW of solar in Japan in the next two years. This would take its cumulative capacity to 900 MW, thus achieving targets outlined in 2014.

The California-based distributed energy storage developer has secured Series C funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and four other public and private investors.

Having installed over 913 MW of new solar in 2015, Australia now boasts some 5 GW of PV generating capacity. Local market analysts Sunwiz published the figure today, concluding that solar was the leading source of new generating capacity in Australia in 2015, now comprising 9% of installed electric generating capacity in the country.

The Italian clean energy developer posts total revenue for 2015 of EUR 3bn, which mirrors 2014 performance; net installed capacity of clean energy reaches 10.5 GW, a 9% increase.

The German firm’s Sunmodule Bisun glass-glass module, which uses bifacial cells based on PERC technology, to be presented at forthcoming exhibition in Frankfurt; modular SunPac LiOn battery also to be unveiled.

Panasonic Corp. is set to suspend operations at one of its PV cell plants for several months amid dwindling demand, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported Tuesday.