Australia’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has strengthened its role in creating new clean energy capital products. Increasing its annual investment figure to AU$837 million in the Australian financial year 2015-16, which is drawing to a close, the cleantech investment body increased its spend by 73% YoY.

SolarWorld could face bankruptcy as a result of its polysilicon supply dispute with Hemlock. The U.S. polysilicon supplier is claiming up to $793.5 million in damages, in court documents acquired by Reuters today.

Germany’s peak renewable body has said that the new iteration of the country’s renewable energy legislation, the EEG, does not spell an end of the feed-in tariff system. The German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE) says that while solar PV installation figures will not return to anything like previous levels under the new EEG, FITs will still be in place, although with receding importance.

275,902 Australian solar households could be in for a shock in 2017, as scheduled feed in tariffs (FIT) reductions in three states come into effect. Research published this month has revealed the extent of the impact on households under these PV tariff schemes and has recommended affected households undertake a number of measures to minimize the FIT-drop impact, however, interestingly it notes deploying residential battery storage would not be an economically feasible measure.

The U.S. court adjudicating on the legal dispute between SolarWorld subsidiary Deutsche Solar and Hemlock Semiconductor has granted a motion for a summary judgment, dismissing SolarWorld’s submission for the case to be heard by a jury. The dispute stems from three multi-year polysilicon supply deals negotiated and signed between 2005 and 2007. SolarWorld argues that it is not beholden to these supply deals as they were subsequently amended by the two parties.

New research has indicated a pathway for perovskites to achieve a conversion efficiency of 31%. The findings were published by researchers from Berkeley Lab this week. Nanoscale images of perovskite solar cells revealed a characteristic of perovskites that points to the potential for dramatically higher efficiencies.

Just days after Masdar and EDF stepped forward as one of the seven shortlisted consortia to develop the 350 MW Sweihan PV project in Abu Dhabi, the Phelan Energy Group argues that its track record in realizing large projects in South Africa and elsewhere puts it in a strong position to pick up the bid.

A 7 MW utility scale battery has been coupled with a 4.2 MW PV array in the Village of Minister, Ohio, to provide a range of electricity supply services to the community. The array was commissioned for the S&C Electric Company and will provide a number of grid and power supply services.

Switzerland’s Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) has used vacuum coating to deposit and grow a perovskite semiconductor layer, resulting in a 19.6% efficient cell. Researchers have applied a mild vacuum for 20 seconds to achieve the result, which is a low-temperature process.

Reports have emerged that electronics giant Apple is looking to sell solar electricity. Apple has formed the Apple Energy subsidiary, with an aim to trade electricity and potentially retail the solar electricity it generates from its PV power plants.