Thin film manufacturer Solar Frontier has announced that the 1MW Shimozuru Power Plant in the city of Izumi, Kagoshima Prefecture, in Japan has officially come online.
Shanghai Chaori Solar Energy Science & Technology, a Chinese PV module manufacturer, has signed a cooperation agreement with Brazil-based S4 Clean Energy Projectos Esolucoes Sustentaveis Ltd. to construct up to 272MW of PV plants in Brazil.
The President of Costa Rica Laura Chinchilla has officially inaugurated a 1MW solar park in Miravalles which is said to be the country’s largest PV plant to date and the largest project of its kind in Central America.
The Chilean environmental authority Servicio de Evaluación Ambiental (SEA) has approved Solar Chile’s environmental impact statement (EIS) for its proposed 30.24MW thin-film PV plant.
Germany PV developer S.A.G. Solarstrom has sold four PV systems to an unnamed German institutional investor. The systems, which were installed in Germany this year, have a total capacity of 15.1MWp.
Megalim Solar Power, a company established by BrightSource Energy and Alstom, has won the bid to build a 121MW solar thermal power plant in Israel. The construction contract was awarded by Israel’s inter-ministerial Tender Committee.
German renewable energy specialist juwi has constructed its first project in Egypt — an off-grid hybrid system which consists of a 50kW PV system, four small wind turbines and a battery storage unit.
US investment firm Blackstone has launched a solar programme which aims to improve the environmental performance across its portfolio of companies and real estate assets.
A consortium of three companies — US PV developer SolarReserve, financial services company Kensani Group and South African renewables developer Intikon — has closed a financial deal worth R5.15 billion (US$586 million) to fund the development of two 75MW PV plants in South Africa.