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Module manufacturer Hanwha SolarOne will expand its activities in Japan, opening a second sales office in the booming solar market. Japan Daily Press reported that a Hanwha official has said that weak global demand makes Japan a priority for the producer.

Global investment in renewable energy reached $244 billion last year, a drop of 12% due mainly to the plunge in solar prices and weakened U.S. and EU markets, according to newly published twin reports by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21).

Kuwait is looking to build a 2 GW renewable energy park by 2030. The country has started to accept bid proposals for the first phase of the ambitious project, which will initially generate 70 MW.

Chinese electronics group STGCON has agreed to take over insolvent German PV module manufacturer Asola Solarpower GmbH.

Two high schools in the U.S. state of New Mexico will soon be running on solar power thanks to German PV group Conergy, which is installing PV plants with a combined output of 1.2 MW at the school campuses that will cover 80% of their total annual energy needs.

Ergon Solair is one step closer to realizing a $1.5 billion, 1 GW photovoltaic power plant in Georgia. The enterprise would connect Georgia to the European grid via HVDC transmission.

Ontario is set to introduce a number of major changes to its solar feed-in-tariff (FIT) program that will create a competitive procurement process, expand funding programs for municipalities and seek to comply with the recent World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling against the region’s domestic content requirements.

European PV installations are set to fall by more than 6 GW this year and the EU’s incoming anti-dumping duties on Chinese modules will account for 1.3 GW of the decline, according to a report by research group IHS. Global installations will still see double-digit growth rates, however.

Due to the improved supply-demand balance, the global photovoltaic (PV) materials market will climb 52% in 2018, according to a report by Lux Research. Materials differentiation and innovations will become the major contributors to the sustainable growth of global demand.

Global technical association IEEE has developed a comprehensive resource portfolio aimed at further developing short- and long-term smart grid innovation. Among the first resources available are three “Vision” documents.