The US tops 37.9 GW of large scale solar
That record figure of utility scale PV was under contract at the end of June with 8.7 GWdc under construction. However, installation levels fell slightly, year-over-year.
An organic solar cell for indoor light
A Swedish-Chinese research team has developed an organic cell said to be ideal for wide use in daily life to power internet of things-enabled devices. The cell could be used to power sensors that detect and measure moisture, particle concentrations, temperature and other parameters indoors.
Renesola rebounds from loss with Q2 profit but loan looms large
The project developer trumpeted its return to the black in the second quarter and appears set to secure an $11 million cash injection from its main shareholder. It needs the cash to help settle a near-$29 million debt due for repayment in March.
ACWA Power offers African record low $0.02526/kWh for Ethiopian projects
Ethiopia has concluded the tender process for the first round of its Scaling Solar program. The winning bid is the lowest in the continent to date, according to the finance ministry.
Dubai has 106 MW under net metering
Most of the generation capacity – around 63 MW – was deployed in the emirate over the last 14 months.
Total expands solar business in Asia
The French oil giant and China’s Envision Group are forming a joint venture offering PV systems combined with energy management solutions. Total Eren is also involved in a 100 MW solar project in Uzbekistan.
Brexit paralysis and lack of incentives leave community energy facing uphill struggle in the UK
The future benefits of technology such as smart meters and the associated aggregation of small scale generation are not being adequately rewarded, support for solar and wind is being cut off and parliament is fixated solely on one issue.
Colombia imposes renewables quota on power distributors
The obligation will be applied annually from 2022. The clean electricity required will have to be bought through power purchase contracts of at least 10 years’ duration.
SMA: ‘We can’t be credible if we’re not sustainable’
Credibility comes not just from offering products that generate clean electricity, but also from the way in which those products are manufactured, says SMA Solar Technology CEO Jürgen Reinert. Here, transparency and sustainability are key. That’s why one of the world’s largest PV inverter producers has partnered with pv magazine’s UP sustainability initiative. In the following Q&A, Reinert lays out what SMA is doing to step UP its green game.
Dutch government seeks to privatize Tennet
Tennet needs more than €4.75 billion to invest in cross-border grid infrastructure between Germany and the Netherlands, as rising volumes of solar and wind are complicating network operations, said Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra in a recent letter to the Dutch parliament, adding that the government may need to privatize the state-owned transmission system operator or sell off a stake in it.
