According to new figures from the Africa Solar Industry Association (AFSIA), the continent’s cumulative installed PV capacity reached 16 GW at the end of December, based on 3.7 GW of new annual installations.

The African Development Fund has approved $302.9 million of financing for a 225 kV electricity interconnection project linking Mauritania and Mali. The project is part of the Desert to Power initiative, which facilitates the development of solar plants in the region.

Dracula Technologies has developed a new indoor technology for its organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. It designed the tech to replace traditional batteries in connected devices.

SolarPower Europe has published guidelines for floating solar to offer an overview of the European market and the global landscape, with practical advice for project developers.

German developer Soventix has secured approval from Eskom for the first phase of a giant 1 GW solar project in the town of De Aar, South Africa. Construction of the first 342 MW is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2024.

France’s National Solar Energy Institute (INES) – a division of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) – is developing ultra-thin TOPCon solar devices for space missions, in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA).

Voltec and the Institut Photovoltaïque d’Île-de-France (IPVF) plan to set up a pilot line for their new tandem panel tech in 2023 and their first 200 MW industrial demonstrator in 2025. They also plan to increase the factory’s capacity to 1 GW in 2027 and 5 GW by 2030.

Inno Neat has developed a solar-powered water filter that removes contaminants such as bacteria, viruses and heavy metals for rural communities.

French startup Koolboks has developed off-grid solar refrigerators that offer continuous refrigeration for up to four days via solar modules, ice storage, and lithium-ion batteries. The units are available for rental and include two LED lighting bulbs and USB ports to charge phones.

The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) has developed a recycling process for end-of-life PV modules, recovering silicon and silver, using supercritical CO2. Virginie Basini, head of CEA’s sustainable technologies department, discussed the technique with pv magazine France.