Markets & Policy

The German inverter manufacturer blamed weak demand in Europe for growing first-half losses but expects international demand to drive a dynamic second half in 2014.

Operators of wind turbines and biomass facilities will have to register their systems with the Federal Network Agency, which already keeps track of PV plants in order to determine solar subsidy degression rates based on the number of installations.

The vertically integrated PV manufacturer reached the milestone in June, adding that the tally amounts to 40 million PV modules globally.

The solar developer’s revenue grew 62% year-over-year in Q2 2014, and SunEdison ended the quarter with 475 MW of projects under construction. More importantly, the company held its yieldco IPO in July, as it moves towards a model of holding projects instead of selling them.

Enabled by legislation at the state level, counties across California have launched property assessed clean energy (PACE) programs. This represents a revival for PACE, a promising mechanism for property owners to finance solar systems and energy efficiency improvements, and the program administrator expects CaliforniaFirst to support US$250 million in solar PV systems in 2015.

While First Solar has been the single largest module supplier for the Indian market, with the 45 MW-AC project at two sites in the new state of Telangana the company is moving into project development in the nation as well.

While First Solar has been the single largest module supplier for the Indian market, with the 45 MW-AC project at two sites in the new state of Telangana the company is moving into project development in the nation as well.

The company fell to a break-even operating margin in its second quarter 2014 results, however this was overshadowed by a new CdTe cell efficiency record and a 0.5% improvement in average module efficiency.

Strong demand from the core domestic market as well as from overseas helped boost sales at the California solar microinverter systems manufacturer.

The companies initially plan to develop 55 MW of PV projects in the United Kingdom. SPI has recently raised nearly $50 million to expand its international activities.