Smart heating and solar are coming together in a new collaboration between SolarCity and Nest Labs announced today. Under the partnership, 10,000 new Californian SolarCity customers will receive a free Nest Thermostat when they sign up for a solar lease.

The Solarex trade show currently under way in Istanbul reveals a market growing much more slowly than many had hoped. However, the fundamentals for PV remain strong and administrative barriers are slowly reducing.

Western Energy Partners has unveiled plans to build a 750 MW gas-PV power plant in New Mexico. The power plant will replace aged coal generators, in a part of the state that has highly degraded water and air quality due to fossil fuel operations.

Dubai and Saudi Arabia-based Abdul Latif Jameel Energy has acquired Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV), including its global 3.8 GW pipeline of PV projects. The two companies had previously collaborated on a JV to develop solar projects in the MENAT region.

Boston-based P2P solar startup Yeloha has launched, simultaneously announcing the closure of Series A financing of $3.5 million. Yeloha hopes to take P2P solar into the residential PV space.

Over the Easter break U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled a plan to train 75,000 solar workers by 2020. The Solar Ready Vets program was launched at 10 military bases on Friday.

Chinese solar manufacturer and developer Canadian Solar has completed its its third solar project sale to Renewable Energy Trust Ontario Holdings (RET Capital). This most recent sale was of the 10 MW AC CityLights project, located in Chesterville, Ontario.

Jordan’s Philadelphia Solar has closed financing on a 10 MW PV power plant under round one of the country’s FIT scheme. The company says it is the first project to do so under the FIT scheme.

The Australian Government has found that a number of Chinese PV suppliers are guilty of having dumped modules in the market. However, it has recommended no action be taken due to the relatively small dumping margins and negligible injury or hindrance to the Australian PV industry.

Three U.S. companies have combined efforts to deliver a microgrid capable of integrating nine different distributed generation (DG) sources to optimize renewable generation and storage utilization and deliver reliable power. S&C Electric Company, Schneider Electric and transmission and distribution company Oncor have partnered to deliver the project.