At a meeting of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, Premier Li Keqiang discussed measures to support the nation's solar photovoltaic (PV) industry, including policies to stimulate domestic demand. Read more...

At a meeting of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, Premier Li Keqiang discussed measures to support the nation's solar photovoltaic (PV) industry, including policies to stimulate domestic demand. Read more...

Solar Frontier has produced a 14.6% efficient copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS or CIS) solar photovoltaic (PV) module on a mass production line at its factory in Miyazaki, Japan. Read more...

Developers in the US state of Massachusetts applied for solar renewable energy credits (SRECs) for 619 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in May 2013, according to data from the state's Department of Energy Resources (DOER), as cited by SRECTrade (San Francisco, California, U.S.). These projects bring the state to 906 MW registered in the program, well in excess of a 400 MW cap. DOER announced both emergency regulations to address the excess applications and a proposal for a new regulation to increase the program by 1.2 GW on June 7th, 2013. Read more...

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has proposed a procurement plan energy storage targets for the state's three private utilities, to reach a cumulative total of 1.325 GW by 2020. The CEC calls for “viable and cost-effective” storage systems from among emerging technologies, with the goals of optimizing the state's grid, integrating renewable energy generation, and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions. Read more...

Mercom Capital LLC (Austin, Texas, US) has released its “Global Solar Forecast” predicting that solar photovoltaic (PV) installations will increase 23% in 2013 to 38 GW, led by China and Japan. The company expects Japan alone to install more than 7 GW in 2013, compensating for declining demand in Germany and Italy. Mercom also warns of the dangers of the trade war between the EU and China intensifying. Read more...

Kyocera Corporation (Kyoto, Japan) has received a USD 90 million order to supply 30 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to the National Federal of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (Zen-Noh, Japan) and Mitsubishi Corporation (Tokyo, Japan). Kyocera will supply roughly 124,000 242-watt PV modules as well as engineering, construction and maintenance services for PV systems to be installed at 80 Zen-Noh group facilities, including barns, distribution centers and parking lots. Read more...

Citing the inability to sell the business, Siemens AG (Munich, Germany) has announced that it will close its concentrating solar power (CSP) subsidiary, including eliminating 280 positions. Read more...

Citing deteriorated conditions in the German market due to decreased feed-in tariffs and the impact of EU duties on Chinese solar photovoltaic (PV) products, Juwi AG (Wörrstädt, Germany) estimates that it will complete roughly 200 MW of PV projects internationally in 2013. Read more...

The Indian state of Punjab has released details of the winning bids for 251 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in its latest solicitation, reporting higher bid prices than tenders in other states. Read more...

On June 5th, 2013 Godawari Power & Ispat Ltd. (Chhattisgarh, India) and Lauren CCL Engineers Pvt Ltd. (Navi Mumbai, India) commissioned a 50 MW concentrating solar power (CSP) plant in the Indian state of Rajasthan, which is by far the largest CSP plant completed in the nation to date. The Godawari CSP plant is also the first to be connected to the grid among 470 MW of CSP projects awarded under phase 1 batch 1 of India's National Solar Mission (NSM). Lauren provided engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for the plant, which was developed by Godawari Power. Read more...