The Australia residential storage market is booming on the back of a combination of regulatory changes and market dynamics. However, with upwards of 30,000 systems set to be plugged in this year, the influence of early adopters deploying solar+storage to new installations remains a dominant driving force in the current market.

Germany’s Solarwatt has launched a fully-modular battery storage system that it claims will be suitable for installations ranging in scale from small residential up to commercial and industrial installations.

Tesla founder Elon Musk has thrown down a challenge to the Australian government, saying that he can build a battery array capable of resolving South Australia’s energy stability issues within 100 days. Musk took to social media to make the challenge, saying that Tesla could develop a 100 MWh system to stabilize the state’s electricity network, within 100 days of a contract being signed, or that he’ll provide it for free.

The European solar market decreased by 21% last year. This disappointing if not unexpected news opened SolarPower Europe’s annual summit in Brussels today. Grid integration of Europe’s solar capacity, EU market rules for protecting the ‘prosumer’ and reforms to the continent’s faltering Emissions Trading Scheme were major themes during the plenary session.

The European Union will see an extension to hotly contested duties on Chinese PV exporters by 18 months. A spokesperson for the European Commission confirmed the move with pv magazine today, adding that the duties will be phased out, in line with industry cost reductions.

A 991 kW PV array will supply Kenya’s largest salt producer with 22% of its electricity, in a diesel-hybrid system delivered by SolarAfrica. The system was supported by a grant from the Japanese government’s Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM).

The JinkoSolar and Marubeni Corporation consortium developing the 1.177 GW (DC) Sweihan PV power plant project in Abu Dhabi has signed a 25-year PPA with a Abu Dhabi Water and Electric Authority (ADWEA) subsidiary. The power price is one of the lowest ever achieved by a utility scale project globally.

Seven PV and battery storage companies have pitched to investors at the first Clean Energy Innovators Demo Day in Sydney. The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) organized the event and can also finance investments in early-stage companies through its Innovation Fund.

German-based project developer Soventix is set to develop up to 140 MW of PV in Alberta, Canada. The company is currently planning six projects with capacities ranging from 15 – 45 MW near the cities of Calgary and Edmonton.

Leading Chinese PV manufacturer JinkoSolar has continued to grow shipments in Q4 2016, with full-year (FY) module sales increasing close to 50% YoY. Downward price pressure continues to bite, with revenues falling 8.3% compared to Q3, and almost 14% year-on-year.