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Total corporate funding in the solar sector has slipped slightly in the first nine months of this year, compared to the same period in 2016 reports Mercom Capital, despite increases in global VC funding and M&A transactions. Some strong quarterly gains were, however, recorded. Downstream remains a key funding focus.

The consultancy’s 2017 study finds that the global cost of utility-scale solar has reached an unsubsidized LCOE of under $50 per megawatt-hour, making new solar cost-competitive with running existing coal or nuclear plants.

Global cumulative storage deployment will double six times between 2017 and 2030 to reach 125 GW/305 GWh, with as much as $103 billion pouring into the sector, finds new report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Research from the Overseas Development Institute estimates that children in developing world can gain 15 minutes extra study time a day if their homes switch from fossil fuel to solar, while households can enjoy savings of $10 per month.

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) presents its first offering, a Common Risk Mitigation Mechanism (CRMM) feasibility study, at COP23 in Bonn, Germany, to deepen solar markets, which aims to mobilize up to $1trn of capital investment by 2030.

In its annual flagship report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) highlights that fast-declining costs will turn solar into the cheapest source of new energy generation over the next 25 year.

Series troubleshooting: Individual insulation failures are often difficult to detect in monitoring. And when such problems are suspected, it is an additional challenge to pinpoint them precisely. In this series of realistic cases, pv magazine aims to make the estimation of troubleshooting efforts more concrete and to stimulate a discussion on today’s troubleshooting efficiency.

Many countries who have signed the Paris agreements have been given the opportunity to significantly strengthen their targets for renewables with the next rounds of National Determined Contributions (NDC) coming up. NDCs are an integral part of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. They outline the actions that countries plan to take to achieve the agreements aim’s.

Highlighting the potential for greening the industrial sector amid rapid decline of solar PV and wind power costs, a newly published report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that generation directly serving companies and public is dominated by commercial-scale PV, which made up 10% of all new additions in 2016.

Assessment of weather data and forecasting are vital in reducing risks and, therefore, financing costs and losses during the operation of solar plants. Following a recent pv magazine webinar, Finnish environmental firm Vaisala has prepared detailed answers to the main questions posed by participants.