Chinese PV manufacturing giant, JinkoSolar, was chosen to supply its 72-cell solar modules to the North Star Solar project in Minnesota, U.S., which will be the largest solar plant in the American Midwest once it is connected to the grid later in the year.

The California-based solar loan provider for homeowners has added another substantial capital warehouse to its growing financial clout, this time a USD 250 million facility from Deutsche Bank, as it aims to have USD 1 billion available for solar loans by summer 2017.

Energy transition start-up Africa Green Tec has entered into a cooperation agreement with German energy storage systems manufacturer Tesvolt to deliver its lithium batteries alongside 50 solar containers, with a total capacity of 3 MWh, to 25 Malian villages.

Solar cell and module manufacturer Taiwan Solar Energy Corp (TSEC) announced plans to increase its annual solar cell manufacturing capacity by 450 MW using finance it accrued through loans and new share issuances, while it is also planning to build a 1 GW solar module manufacturing facility.

China National Complete Engineering Corporation (CCEC) will work alongside two Chinese solar companies, including GCL-SI, to develop a mammoth PV plant over 1 GW, at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine, which took place 30 years ago.

The Indian mining and energy firm, Adani, has secured land agreements to build two utility-scale solar PV plants in Australia, each with a capacity between 100 MW to 200 MW.

Private energy company TD Energy has announced plans to invest USD 80 million in a 40.8 MW PV project in the Zimbabwean town of Norton, with the goal of steering the country’s energy deficit solutions in the direction of renewable energy.

An extensive new report of the utility-scale solar operations and maintenance (O&M) market, by GTM Research and SoliChamba Consulting, projects that the market will have reached 182 GW by the end of 2016, and will have more than doubled to reach 439 GW by 2021.

The two energy storage solution companies have signed an agreement to enter into a strategic alliance, which will see Leclanché share its battery storage technologies with Zhejiang Narada Power Source, which will allow the two companies to manufacture the storage solutions at scale in China.

Once completed the project will be by far the largest PV plant in the country and one of the largest on the continent, as Enel looks to take advantage of the country’s push towards a more diversified energy mix.