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Daqo New Energy Corp. has announced plans to stop its wafer manufacturing operations this month. It instead intends to focus solely on polysilicon production. Challenging market conditions were cited as the reason.

The Sahara Desert, and the Sahel region, could be set to take advantage of large-scale wind and solar power projects covering huge surfaces.

The results of Jordan’s Round 3 solar PV auction have been announced. Jinko Power (HK) Company Limited submitted the lowest bid of US$0.02488/kWh. Jinko, along with two other companies, are now in pole position to be awarded projects. A final decision will be made after the financial offers have been validated, among other things.

The Uyuni project will cover half of the electricity demand in the Potosí region, and is currently the largest PV installation in the Andean country. The project was realized thanks to an investment of US$62 million.

The benefits of deploying bifacial solar panels on single-axis trackers are touted like snake oil these days, with promises of anywhere from 5 to 50% gains in energy output compared with a monofacial panel. Unfortunately, the field data that might delineate the actual energy gain of a bifacial panel on a tracker are hard to acquire, and the data that are available typically describe small-scale tests under tightly defined conditions.

The social media giant’s Los Lunas data center plans to buy power at $30/MWh.

Energy Impact Partners, who partners with 14 electric utilities, has raised US$681 million to continue investing in technologies that have a high probability of influencing the future power grid.

During the past three years, Philipp Schröder has built up and consolitaded the Sonnen brand. Now the self-proclaimed “Sonnen Warrior” is going his own way, although he will remain an advisor to the German storage provider. Managing Director, Christoph Ostermann regrets the departure, but emphasizes that with the strong management team that has been established, he will continue to promote the company’s growth.

Following hot on the heels of Exide Industries, traditional battery maker, Indian-based Amara Raja Batteries Limited has said it will set up a 100 MWh lithium ion assembly plant in Andhra Pradesh. The company aims to establish a foothold in the energy storage market for electric vehicles.

Taiwan-based analyst firm, WisolPro says the global capacity for PERC cells is rapidly increasing, with the technology likely to replace polycrystalline cells. HJT, thin film, and n-type PERT technologies are also on the rise.