German photovoltaic developer juwi has begun construction on a project that will see five solar parks, with a combined capacity of 48 MW, developed in Thailand. The solar power plants will be equipped to deal with floods, such as those that took place in Thailand in 2011.

German EPC and project developer Belectric has announced its move into the Australian utility scale market, with an agreement to construct a 5 MW power plant in the north west of the state Victoria. The location of Mildura had previously been selected for a large photovoltaic project which has not gone ahead.

German-based EPC and photovoltaic developer Gehrlicher Solar has announced the completion of a 30 kW off grid system in Spain, to supply a small community. While relatively small, the installation is indicative of a growing trend of grid parity or self-consumption installations in the Spanish market and further afield.

German photovoltaic manufacturer Conergy has announced its move into the Romanian photovoltaic market, having signed an agreement to develop a 2.2 MW power plant.

U.S. solar lease provider and online photovoltaic system retailer Sungevity has secured up to US$125 million, to continue to roll out its products. The funding comes in the form of $40 million equity funding and $85 million in project funding.

Swinterton Renewable Energy has announced that it has been awarded the EPC contract for the K Road Moapa solar plant. The company claims it is the first large-scale solar project on tribal land. It will have a capacity of 250 MW.

In what has been claimed to be the largest offgrid electrification program in the world, Grameen Shakti has announced its millionth installation in Bangladesh. The company says the program demonstrates that the falling cost of solar photovoltaics is facilitating wider application in countries like Bangladesh.

While most photovoltaic manufacturers continue to record losses and some market outlooks remain bleak, new Deutsche Bank analysis has predicted that the solar market is set to grow by 22 percent to 33.4 GW in 2013.

Japanese thin film manufacturer Solar Frontier will form an investment company with the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) to provide financing for 100 MW of photovoltaic power plants a year. The company will look to finance projects currently under development and to develop projects outright, for sale to Independent Power Producers (IPP) and investors.

A new report from Frost & Sullivan has found that the utility scale solar power market in the U.S. will attract US$20.44 billion of investment by 2016. The report concludes that solar power is, “emerging from the shadow of conventional energy in the U.S.”