U.S. lease provider SolarCity is tacking the plunge into community solar, rolling out a scheme in Minnesota whereby renters or low-income housing residents will have the opportunity to purchase electricity virtually from a community solar array. It plans to develop 100 1 MW community in the state.

Holland’s SoLayTec will ship four of its InPassion PECVD tooling to two Chinese Tier 1 manufacturers. One tool is for a new customer’s R&D line, while three will go to an existing customer for volume production.

U.S. thin film manufacturer First Solar has achieved a major boost in module efficiency using its cadmium telluride technology. Today the company announced a full module efficiency of 18.2%, from an 18.6% aperture efficiency module.

A coalition of analyst bodies have delivered a positive prediction for the global industry at InterSolar 2015.

Chinese manufacturer Suntech has announced its intention to upgrade 1 GW of its module capacity to polycrystalline PERC output by the end of 2015. The resultant 72-cell modules will have a power output of 325 W, an increase of around 10 MW from its non-PERC, four busbar modules.

A survey by DNV GL of a range of participants in the MENA region’s solar markets has confirmed that Dubai and Jordan are considered the markets with the greatest short term potential. Looking beyond two years, Saudi Arabia is seen as having the highest potential, despite the slow movement in the market today.

With most major PV module producers having reported Q1 results, Canadian Solar looks to be rivaling previous leaders Yingli and Trina leading module supplier title. Having shipped 1.23 GW in Q1 2015, Canadian has had a huge start to 2015.

The government of the Malaysian state of Penang has defended its decision to approve the new JinkoSolar manufacturing plant in the region. The 500 MW cell and 450 MW module plant, inaugurated last week, has drawn fire over potential pollution concerns.

China’s Hanergy Thin Film Power has delayed the release of company information including details as to its Master Suppy Agreement and a notice as to the date of a special/extraordinary general meeting (SGM). Hanergy TF had previously committed to releasing the information by June 1.

Solar installation rates in New Zealand have grown by more than 220% in 2015, over the previous 18 months. New figures from the Electricity Networks Association show that while there were 1,630 PV arrays in New Zealand as of October 2013, that number has now climbed to 5,367.