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Leading module manufacturer, Canadian Solar has been awarded a 112 MW project in Brazil, after the country allocated around 574 MW of PV in its recent A-4 power auction.

The project’s lenders are the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Deutsche Investitions- Und Entwicklungsgesellschaft Mbh (DEG) and Arab Bank to Risha for Solar Power Projects PSC. The facility will be built in the eastern province of Risha by the first quarter of 2019.

Troubleshooting in solar plants requires not only trying to find a diagnosis of why the performance ratio is reduced, but also to localize faulty modules. In a recent pv magazine webinar, experts discussed four troubleshooting cases and explored whether module-resolved monitoring would help reduce the effort, and thereby decrease LCOE.

A team of scientists from the University of California has published a study, which says the state could meet 100% of its electricity demand up to 2025 from PV, without having to deploy a single panel on productive farmland or protected natural areas.

A new scheme aimed at supporting all rooftop PV segments is expected to be launched soon by the government. The new mechanism includes net metering, although with an additional grid fee covering storage costs, and FITs for small-scale solar. The government is also planning new auctions for rooftop solar geared towards new models of entrepreneurship.

The developers of the five newly selected PV projects, which were initially excluded from the round, have agreed to reduce their prices to the levels of those selected in late November. The additional solar capacity has raised the total assigned power for PV up to 816.3 MW.

While solar has been recognized in Scotland’s first energy strategy, which aims to supply half of the country’s energy needs from renewables by 2030, criticism has been aimed at the lack of concrete policy frameworks for solar, an energy source that could add 6 GW capacity in the next 12 years.

Chinese media reports on development of the Jinan City Expressway, where weight-bearing solar panels are being laid for the 2km that stretches into the city of Jinan, which is the provincial capital of Shandong.

Perovskite solar start up, Oxford PV has received €15 million in financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB), to support its efforts at commercialization of silicon/perovskite tandem solar cell production.

In this interview Mark Widmar talks about the market for PV modules and his company’s supply situation, First Solar’s position in the Section 201 case, and the role he sees for solar in the future of energy.