Strategic Alliances

British developer Lightsource has announced the acquisition of Irish software company Ubiworx. The company is a specialist in the internet of things and has already worked closely with Lightsource over the past two years

Trade publishers energía hoy and pv magazine group have partnered to launch a new website – www.pv-magazine-mexico.com – and weekly newsletter to cover the fast growing Mexican solar PV market.

British headquartered perovskite startup, Oxford PV has received an additional GBP 8.02 million (US$11.2 million) in funding from existing investors. The company states it will use the funds to continue its development of commercially viable perovskite-on-silicon tandem cells.

U.S. technology company Microlink Devices has achieved a record efficiency of 37.75% on its triple junction thin film cells. The lightweight cell achieves a power density of more than 3000 W/kg, and is designed for use in satellites and unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). The new efficiency record is confirmed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Belgian institute Imec will be the coordinator of a project involving many of Europe’s leading research organizations, which will focus on developing stable, scalable, low cost PV modules based on perovskite technology. The project, named ‘ESPResSo’ has received more than €5 million in funding from the European Union.

The Swiss power electronics giant has announced that its UNO-DM-PLUS string inverters are now operationally compatible with Tigo’s DC optimization technology, which also offers module-level monitoring and rapid shutdown capability.

The smarter E: First to join Intersolar was the energy storage trade fair EES, and now the concept has become even more comprehensive, the trade fair and conference even bigger. Markus Elsässer, CEO of the organizer Solar Promotion, explains that all of the events now fall under the umbrella of “The smarter E”.

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been signed between the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and Japan-based SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son, to establish the world’s largest solar PV energy project by 2030. How likely it is to materialize, and what will be done with the power, if it is realized, however, remains to be seen. Of more interest, says BNEF, is the first 7.2 GW phase.

The Melbourne-headquartered brewer will receive solar energy from a 112 MW solar farm located in the state of Victoria, and owned and operated by Germany firm BayWa r.e. The move is part of Carlton’s drive to become 100% renewable.

U.K.-based off-grid developer, BBOXX and online renewable energy investment platform, Trine have raised €1 million from crowdfunded investments in less than one month. The financing will be disbursed at the beginning of April, to enable BBOXX to scale up its operations in Kenya.