Manufacturing

In a big win for PV producers in Brazil, the country’s energy minister has pushed through a new decree allowing solar in the upcoming A-5 auction for electricity from new energy plants that will go online in 2018.

Photovoltaic developer SunEdison has closed a $212.5 million deal for a 100 MW solar project in the Atacama Desert in Chile. The plant is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2014.

Jörg Althaus, business field manager for solar energy at TÜV Rheinland, discusses how unannounced factory inspections and market surveillance may make a difference as the focus on PV power plant and component quality increases.

Applications for the Cypriot net metering program are now open. Cyprus’ installed solar PV capacity, currently at 25 MW, is expected to grow fivefold within the next two years.

Chinese solar manufacturer JinkoSolar will be supplying 274 MWp of photovoltaic modules to solar projects in South Africa and Australia.

PV producers in Spain took in some $2.6 billion from the sale of electricity but the country’s troubled industry is still facing ruin as the government seeks to introduce new power generation fees.

U.S. energy giant Direct Energy and Calfornia-based SolarCity are teaming up to provide solar electricity directly to businesses.

In the latest example of the solar industry’s increasing focus on quality certification and bankability, certification group VDE and First Solar have unveiled new assurance standards and a VDE Quality Tested mark.

Goldpoly New Energy Holdings team up with Huabei Expressway to acquire the entire equity interest of a 23.8 MW on-grid solar plant in Xuzhou, China in $73.5 million deal.

Only around EUR 3.3 million of the EUR 25 million made available by the German government to subsidize household PV storage systems has been claimed. With a further EUR 25 million expected for 2014, householders have been urged to apply for a grant.