North America

German-based Innogy SE’s US subsidiary will gain exclusive rights for the acquisition of 13 solar PV projects currently owned by Birdseye Renewable Energy LLC. The projects have a cumulative capacity of 440MW and are at various stages of development.

Three manufacturers with Canadian module assembly have had no luck in trying to get a preliminary injunction against the Section 201 tariffs.

The new round of IT-related tariffs could make it more expensive for any manufacturers planning to import cells from China for module production in the United States.

Researchers from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and Oxford PV have presented a new record perovskite tandem solar cell, with a 25.2% conversion efficiency, independently verified by Fraunhofer ISE. Bernd Stannowski, from HZB presented the results this week at the World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC-7) in Hawaii.

The company will return to selling solar primarily through its stores and online.

Through the deal SunPower gets $25 million and stock; however the bigger deal may be Enphase’s right to be the company’s exclusive residential inverter supplier.

Thanks in no small part to modules stockpiled before the Section 201 tariffs hit, both the utility-scale and “non-residential” market segments grew year-over-year in Q1. And while the duties are expected to play a greater role in 2019, there are other factors supporting ongoing market growth.

A new study from University of California, Riverside, uses electric dipoles to accelerate electron in one direction, whilst completely stopping it in the other. The discovery, according to researchers, could lead to improvements in solar cell and other energy conversion technologies.

The plant is the second-largest planned in the Western Hemisphere, and will triple the thin film module maker’s manufacturing capacity in the United States.

Canada’s pension fund is the world’s first to establish a Green Bond. The growing acceptance for renewable energy assets from sovereign wealth funds indicates a solid and healthy business climate for renewable energy, and could have positive effects for the industry in the future.