Belgian PV and battery research group imec called for PV researchers to renew their focus on optimizing PV systems as the first full day of the EU PVSEC conference and trade show drew to a close on Tuesday in Amsterdam.

Hopes for a sustained equipment bounce-back have taken a hit, in the Q2 2014 SEMI Worldwide Equipment Market Statistics Report. The book-to-bill ratio fell to 0.73.

Interview: Otto Preiss, the Group Senior Vice President and Head of Business Unit Power Conversion, spoke to pv magazine about the growing opportunities in the transition of the utility sector, the growing significance of distributed generation and smart grids as well as electric mobility and increased mass transportation coming with growing urbanization.

New research from Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE has shown that brighter skies are leading to PV system output exceeding forecasts by 5%. Fraunhofer has adjusted its forecast models accordingly.

Through its Southwestern Public Service Company (SPS), Xcel Energy has opened the tender for projects worth 200 MW of PV capacity in Texas. Projects are to be delivered by Dec 31, 2016.

U.S.-based sPower and the Britain’s Camborne have formed a strategic partnership to develop projects in the U.S. The firms have not said what their target in terms of MW is, but that they intend to deploy “significant capital.”

Fears have been mounting that the growth of clean technologies such as solar PV and batteries will lead to shortages in essential rare metals. These are “misguided” according to a new report by the UK Energy Research Center (UKERC) and the Energy Research Partnership (ERP).

A 1 MW distributed storage project has been launched, that will see 1 MW of distributed storage added behind the meter in Oahu, Hawaii. The storage and control systems will be supplied by Stem.

Solar lease provider Sunrun has partnered with due diligence company SolarBuyer to roll out a quality assurance program in the U.S. The program will not only qualify inverter and module manufacturers, but carry out ongoing testing of components to be used in Sunrun arrays.

Swiss power and automation giant ABB intends to establish itself as the “leading entity” in the battery storage sector. It set out this vision in its Capital Markets Day event in London on Tuesday.