News in Brief: NRG commissions a 3.15MW Florida solar plant with Lakeland Electric, Power Africa reaches 30,000 new solar connections in Nigeria, PayGo solar company Azuri nets US$5 million for off-grid expansion in Africa, UPS will expand its solar capacity five-fold and India's BHEL bags its biggest single rooftop PV order.
A shock demonetisation policy across India giving its population just 50 days to swap various cash notes for newly printed legal tender should not affect the solar industry, but there are accounts of other "unethical practices" in the sector, according to consultancy firm Bridge to India.
Leading pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar provider PEG Africa has raised US$1.5 million in debt financing that will provide for enough solar home systems for 75,000 residents in Ghana.
Third party financing could support more than half of India’s solar rooftop segment by 2022, but several policy initiatives must be introduced to make this model attractive to consumers, according to a report from advisory organisation the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI).
High costs of capital and low tariffs are causing extremely tight margins for solar developers in India. PV Tech caught up with Gaetan Tiberghien, principal investment officer, South Asia for International Finance Corporation (IFC), to discuss financing in the region.
Bankrupt renewables firm SunEdison has informed its two yieldcos that it will no longer pay interest on their senior notes due to Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, according to SEC filings.
Tim Buckley, director of energy finance studies, Australasia, Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), explains how significant this loan is for India and what else will be driving the targeted US$100 billion solar investment by 2022.
Tata Power agreed to buy Welspun Renewable Energy earlier this month for INR92.49 billion (US$1.42 billion). Against the backdrop of fiercely competitive bidding, Mercom Capital Group chief executive and co-founder Raj Prabhu, explains the scene of potential mergers and acquisitions in the Indian solar market.
India-based renewables developer ReNew Power Ventures will receive up to US$250 million of debt financing from Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the US government's development finance institution, to help construct 400MW of solar PV projects in India.
