All News

U.S. developers have applied to build 139 GWac of large-scale solar projects in the territory of six grid operators – around five times what is currently online across the country – and that figure doesn’t even cover the entire United States. By any metric, we are looking at an unprecedented boom in solar development over the next five years.

Overall, the country’s cumulative installed PV power has now surpassed 45.55 GW. In the first 11 months of 2018, newly registered PV capacity reached 2.6 GW.

After the failed attempt to sell a majoritry stake in its main polysilicon unit, Jiangsu Zhongneng, the Chinese solar manufacturer has now agreed to sell its wafer unit Suzhou Kezhun to Huajun Holding Group for US$123.6 million. The operation is part of the company’s plan to focus on wafer manufacturing based on the diamond-wire sawing technology and shift production to low-cost locations.

Through the long-awaited auction, which will be held on February 26, the Colombian Government intends to allocate 1.18 million MWh per year. Selected projects will be awarded a 12-year PPA.

“One billion mini-grids, one billion home lighting systems, one billion solar PV ports, 10 million jobs and energy for all have-nots around the world. This is the primary dream of the Global Solar Council (GSC) and we shall achieve this by 2030,” Pranav R Mehta, who took over as chairman of Global Solar Council today, told pv magazine in an exclusive interview.

Europe’s new breed of grid parity projects is mushrooming on the southern fringes of the continent. With governments’ flexible attitude towards remuneration, to the detriment of reliable planning, the desire to make grid parity projects work is strong, and its progress will likely spread north.

Three days before the end of the year, Baywa re not only announced the completion of a 175 MW subsidy-free solar power plant – said to be the first of this size in Europe – but also that it had been sold. For Benedikt Ortmann, managing director of the project business at Baywa re, this is groundbreaking.

Tariff ceilings, safeguard duties, a falling rupee and mandated manufacturing capacity turned 2018 into a year of annulled tenders, and no shows by bidders.

The government of Bangladesh this week approved proposals for setting up five solar based power plants, which will generate 227 MW of electricity in this power hungry country.

Cyprus has introduced several policy schemes supporting solar development over the years, yet the single most important boost for PV technology on the island is a plan that backs a new wave of what are considered to be subsidy-free projects.