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Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has completed the Nanticoke solar project on schedule and according to budget. The array has been built at the former Nanticoke Generating Station site, on the shores of Lake Erie near the town of Port Dover.

Gridserve has revealed plans to install more than 100 electric-vehicle charging stations throughout the U.K. It will start building the first of these facilities later this year, backed by a £1 billion ($1.7 billion) investment.

Australia’s Coalition government has announced funding to support up to 50 off-grid and fringe-of-grid feasibility studies that will investigate whether building a microgrid is cost-effective and whether existing off-grid capabilities can be upgraded with more up-to-date technology.

The new budget looks to lower the cost of energy for households by turning to distributed energy, energy efficiency and community energy programs. To this end, several billion Canadian dollars will be spent.

pv magazine’s Charles Thurston has written about the potential of solar carports in this month’s, hot-off-the-presses edition of the magazine. As a taster, here’s a few extra points on the topic that came in too late for the print deadline.

In both Belgium and Chile, the planned mandatory installation of smart meters is raising concerns among consumers, residential PV system owners and the solar industry. Although seen as a positive, the early stages of smart meter deployment create issues related to the calculation of net metering tariffs and the management and ownership of consumption data, as well as additional costs for consumers.

The Solarville project, by Ikea’s Danish research and design laboratory, has seen the participation of blockchain companies such as Bloc, Blocktech, WeMoveIdeas India and Temporal. It was conceived to help create cooperative community micro-grids to enable homeowners to become clean energy traders.

Definitive data from analyst Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association show tariffs taking a bite out of the U.S. market, but also a near-record number of new projects under contract.

According to new figures released by SolarPower Europe, last year saw 1.4 GW more new solar generation capacity than trade body had expected. Lower demand in China was compensated for by stronger developments in emerging markets.

The Northwest Territories of Canada are going to host a solar-plus-storage project that will be the first of its kind in the region. The facility will power three businesses and 32 residential units in Inuvik and Iqaluit.