Finance

The board of bailed-out Singyes Solar has bought back $18.4 million worth of notes issued in Singapore in late December and also hoovered up $240,000 worth which were unclaimed in the fundraising round.

The economic fallout of the Covid-19 outbreak is yet to be determined but as legislators scramble to establish fiscal support for the EU it is becoming clear the suits in Brussels are not prepared to scrap their hard-won Green Deal plan. Quite the opposite, in fact.

The company has warned shareholders about the potential affect of the virus on its operations in the first half of the year but said Chinese operations had almost returned to normal.

From playing a key role in facilitating the scaling of the solar sector, to opening new markets and enabling grid and energy storage technologies, multilateral financial institutions have been an important part of the ongoing global energy transition. And as Felicia Jackson writes from London, with the expansion of “green banks” and clean-energy lending, the role of these institutions is only set to expand.

The company said that multicrystalline modules accounted for 68% of its shipments in the fourth quarter and 74% for all of 2019, with monocrystalline modules accounting for 32% and 26%, respectively.

SunPower CEO: “We remain on track to complete our planned company split into two independently focused pure-play solar companies by the end of the second quarter.”

Antonio Delgado Rigal, chief executive of energy forecasting service Aleasoft, has told pv magazine all unsubsidized solar project financing will be postponed until it is possible to make reliable price predictions again. Projects could change hands in the meantime though, thanks to deep-pocketed investment funds on the lookout for bargains.

Researchers in Brazil have suggested using solar radiation databases and simulator software to scale PV-diesel mini-grid generators. The profiles of PV generation and mini-grid load demand are critical to finding the right balance, according to the academics.

Researchers in Italy extensively analyzed four different configurations of their proposed system to assess its potential, including under non-optimal, ‘off-design’ conditions and concluded that, for now, subsidies would still be required for the commercial production of synthetic natural gas.

Sun Investment Group has launched a purchasing model which offers the chance to buy or rent solar panels elsewhere for those without the prospect of an installation which can generate energy directly for their home.