French energy minister Ségolène Royal inaugurated yesterday the construction of one kilometer of solar road in France’s northwestern department Orne.

The triple-disaster of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown that hit the northeast of Japan in March 2011 was a wake-up call for many people. This was true for Masayoshi Son, a founder, chairman, and chief executive officer (CEO) of Softbank Group, a Japanese multinational telecommunications and internet corporation. Having experienced the danger of nuclear power plants in Fukushima, he felt the need to replace nuclear power with safer and cleaner renewable energy for a better future.

We regard Queensland’s 50% renewable target by 2030 as potentially by far the largest driver of new renewable energy supply in Australia over the next 20 years. Queensland is the only State where electricity demand is presently growing, it is Australia’s second largest source of electricity demand the current renewable supply is tiny relative to the target. Only NSW has the potential to match Queensland and for now the NSW Govt is more preoccupied with public transport.

The entire solar PV upstream value-chain, including equipment and materials suppliers, is set for drastic changes during 2017, ushered in by a perfect storm of events that has impacted on the industry within a space of 2-3 months, according to the latest release of the PV Manufacturing & Technology Quarterly report from the research team of PV-Tech’s parent owner Solar Media, Ltd.