Finance

SunPower Corporation’s high efficiency E20/327 solar panels to be installed by Shimizu Corporation at the Eurus Energy mega solar power plant in Aomori, Japan.

The Asian Development Bank will supply $500 million towards the cost of a transmission line to carry solar power to state and national grids. The government of Rajasthan and Indian grid utilities will supply the remaining $300 million.

The Catalina Solar PV plant, the world’s eighth-largest, was officially inaugurated over the weekend by its owners, French energy giants EDF Renewable Energy.

The U.S. Department of Energy has issued a plan to slash the soft costs of solar by 2020. The new reports focuses on the non-hardware costs of residential and small commercial projects, but makes no mention of company profits.

The skylight, for Novartis Pharmaceuticals, comprises 820 PV modules and will produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of 600 homes, Onyx Solar says.

Spain’s PV industry body UNEF says generators will lose a fifth of the payments they could have expected from 2010 to 2020. The reductions are part of the Madrid government’s determination to reduce renewables subsidies.

The Chinese manufacturer has negotiated a 30-day window relating to overdue interest on bond notes. With $4.4 billion of short-term debt at the end of August, LDK has some tough talks ahead.

Chinese polysilicon manufacturer GCL Poly has announced a delay in its plans to acquire an equity stake in solar developer Fengxian Huize. A busy day also saw the company’s CFO resign.

Adding wind and solar power to the grid is more cost-effective than switching fossil-fueled power plants on and off to make up for the intermittent nature of renewable energy, says the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

K. Sivadasan, researcher and renewable energy expert, has criticized India’s National Solar Mission for failing to focus on the infrastructure required to adequately meet its lofty objectives.