Switzerland

The asset manager’s new joint venture with Sol Systems seeks to develop up to 100 MW of solar annually to supply businesses, municipalities and universities.

This Swiss giant is following a trend as large multinational high-tech companies see their role as redesigning infrastructure rather than supplying inverters at ever lower margins. Schneider Electric has pulled out of large scale solar, Siemens’ Kaco acquisition and Junelight launch show increasing interest in the C&I and residential markets, and GE is likely to divest its power conversion business due to low profit margins in that sector.

SUSI Partners has purchased a 50% stake in Macquarie Capital’s 63 MW / 340 MWh distributed energy storage portfolio located in Southern California. Included as part of this purchase is the world’s largest virtual power plant.

The Swiss bank will utilize the proceeds to refinance construction and operation of U.S. solar projects, and this could be the first of several issuances.

A collaborative project between the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratories and researchers from two Swiss centers has tested a range of multi junction cells in tandem configuration, and achieved efficiencies of up to 35.9%.