First Solar

The tender produced lower bids than previous rounds but again allocated less generation capacity than planned. The Japanese government initially accepted bids for a combined 589.9 MW but ended up assigning only 195.8 MW of capacity. The final average price for procured solar power was $0.1222/kWh.

The US Solar Fund (USF) has closed on both the acquisition and financing of 100% of the cash equity interests in the 128MW Milford Solar Project, located in Beaver County, Utah.

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has agreed to finance a feasibility study for a 150MW hybrid solar, wind and battery plant in northern Zambia.

First Solar reported a bumper quarter during Q2 by most metrics. The company’s net sales of $585 million were nearly double the previous year, on shipments 1.4 GW of product – the most in its history. Additionally, First Solar booked more than 2.1 GW of orders in July alone, a very positive start to Q3.

First Solar announced that its Sun Streams 2 PV solar plant will power new energy-efficient data centers being built by Microsoft in Goodyear and El Mirage, Arizona. The 150-MWac facility, is being developed and constructed by First Solar in Maricopa County and will power the data centers under a 20-year agreement and will be operational in 2021.

“We’re the first solar company that went public that’s headquartered in Houston,” CEO John Berger tells GTM. “Now you know the energy business has really changed.”

Duke Energy Renewables is expanding its solar energy portfolio by acquiring the 200-MW Holstein solar project from 8minute Solar Energy. The project, located in Nolan County, Texas, will be the largest in Duke Energy Renewables’ fleet once complete.