The project winners for the most recent 810 MW French CR3 PV tender has been dominated by ground mounted projects up to 12 MWp in size, as established developers in the market, and their subsidiaries, pick up the vast majority of projects.

As solar manufacturers return to profit an appetite for new technologies is growing. This was one of the key messages at this year’s Future PV Forum where PERC production at volume, new processes for III-V semiconductors and the rapid progress of perovskites were discussed by technologists, researchers and investors.

GCL-Poly has announced its intention to spin off its equity stake in three Chinese solar project businesses to subsidiary entity. The move comes as the upstream giant continues to spin off diverse assets to focus on its core polysilicon and wafer business.

Owners and operators of PV power plants in the Czech Republic face an uncertain future as the electricity market operator confirms that FIT payments in 2016 may not be made without a confirmation of support from the European Commission.

Module producer RE Group will supply 120 – 150 MW of its high efficiency TwinPeak Series modules to solar lease provider Sunrun. The module deal is the largest of its kind for the REC TwinPeak series and demonstrates strong demand for high efficiency module concepts.

Israeli company Ecoppia will supply its autonomous module cleaning robots to the 40 MW Ketura solar plant in Israel. Ecoppia signed the deal with joint owners of the Ketura EDF RE and Arava Power.

Large renewable energy investors are showing increased interest in financing offgrid PV and renewable projects. Projects to supply mining operations in remote locations in particular are attracting investor attention with high quality offtaker companies assisting with project bankability.

The Emirate kingdom of Dubai has announced a program that will see it generate 25% of its electricity from solar by 2030. Along with an announced 5 GW expansion of the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the Dubai government has called for all rooftops to be equipped with solar PV by 2030.

The Kuwait Shagaya Renewable Energy Project will install crystalline silicon PV modules alongside CIGS thin film, to test the technologies at PV power plant scale in a 10 MW facility. Japan’s Solar Frontier has announced it will be supplying 5 MW of modules to the facility.

Chinese semiconductor giant TSMC has announced its intention to withdraw completely from the solar sector. It will immediately sell a 6% stake in Motech Industries, with its remaining 6% to be divested “in an orderly manner.”