Tokyo-based PV equipment manufacturing company NPC Incorporated will foster future capacity expansion due to equipment demand from an undisclosed North American solar manufacturer.

Roughly €380 million ($403 million) has been earmarked for spending in Ireland’s residential and community grant upgrade schemes, which includes solar PV installations, according to the Irish government’s 2024 Budget. The head of the local energy association, however, cautions to pv magazine that the new budget may not be ‘quite so generous’ as it first appears.

Morocco-based rock miner OCP secured financing to build two solar PV plants totaling 400 MW from the International Finance Corporation, with the twin facilities located near the mining towns of Benguerir and Khouribga – home of the country’s most phosphate-rich reserves.

Solar panel producer Maxeon Solar Technologies will lay off 750 employees by the end of the year as the company reels from reduced shipments from its largest distributed generation (DG) customer in North America and an ‘industry-wide demand slowdown’ in global DG markets.

By mid-century the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for solar PV will be $0.021/kWh, a new report by risk management company DNV predicts. The learning rate for solar is predicted to decrease from 26% to 17% by 2050.

The Bulgarian government has opened public discussion for the country’s first renewable energy auction. Through the procurement exercise, it expects to allocate 1,425 MW of renewable energy power generation capacity and 350 MW of storage.

Off the back of recent legislative changes leading to ‘spurred’ solar PV development, combined with an extremely liberal market, a senior solar analyst from cleantech advisory company Apricum told pv magazine that the Philippines is ‘the place’ to rollout solar projects in Southeast Asia.

The UK’s largest transmission system operator, UK Power Networks, recently launched an 850 MW flexible electricity tender. The company’s Distribution System Operator’s head of flexibility markets, Alex Howard, tells pv magazine that the tender will manage demand growth and help get more renewable projects in a ‘big queue’ connected to the network.

The European Council today announced policies aimed at targeting sectors – such as transport, industry and buildings – that are ‘slow’ to adopting the recently cemented 45% by 2030 renewable energy goal.

Located near Nairobi, the project consists of a 150 kW solar array, a 50 kW crossflow turbine and a 240 KWh storage facility. SolarNow director and CFO Ernst Vriesendorp told pv magazine that despite the project’s humble size, it has ‘large’ benefits.