News

Risen Australia sells 120 MW of rooftop panels in one year
Chinese PV module maker Risen Energy says it has achieved its highest jump in solar module sales in the Australian market in a one-year period.
Aug 9, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Plants, Large-Scale, China, Australia, rooftop, PV module, NEM, Risen Energy, Eric Lee, Yarranlea Solar Farm, John Zhong
More solar panels installed with subsidies than last year, insists energy minister
Besieged Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio insists the number of rooftop solar panel installations in Victoria this year under the government's rebate scheme will far surpass last year's numbers.
Aug 8, 2019 // Policy, Victoria, Australia, installations, solar panel, Lily D’Ambrosio, John Grimes, Daniel Andrews
Sunrun Hits Deployment Targets, Expands Grid Services Business in Q2
The largest U.S. residential solar installer hit deployment expectations and built out its battery business in the second quarter.
Aug 8, 2019 // Plants, Residential, Storage, Grids, USA, storage, Sunrun, installer
Hawaii’s Trailblazing Solar Market Continues to Struggle Without Net Metering
Hawaii’s residential solar market continues to contract, a phenomenon the industry largely attributes to policy changes that went into effect after the state ended net energy metering in 2015.
Aug 8, 2019 // Plants, Residential, Tariffs, Policy, Sunrun, Hawaii, HSEA, Will Giese, NEM, Marco Mangelsdorf
Portugal reveals winners of record-breaking solar auction
Portugal has unveiled the final results of the solar auction held over the summer, identifying a handful of major foreign winners of a tender hailed as a worldwide milestone.
Aug 8, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, Tariffs, Portugal, Iberdrola, tender, Europe, iberia, solar auction, akuo
Eurotron MWT cell equipment in mass production at Sunport Power’s facility in China
Back-contact module manufacturing equipment supplier Eurotron said its previous MWT (Metal Wrap Through) order from China-based PV module manufacturer, Sunport Power had been installed, qualified and begun volume production.
Aug 8, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, China, solar cells, Sunport Power, Eurotron, PV module, Dr. Fengming Zhang, Bram Verschoor
Solar-plus-storage to cover 25% of electricity demand of Saint Kitts and Nevis
The Swiss battery maker Leclanché will build a 35.6 MW / 44.2 MWh solar-plus-storage power plant, which will provide with clean power state-owned St.Kitts electric utility Skelec over a 20-year period. The new facility will be able to cover around a fourth of the archipelago’s total electricity demand.
Aug 8, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Storage, storage, Germany, Europe, solar-plus-storage, Leclanché, Skelec, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Basseterre, Anil Srivastava, Solrid, Switzerland, North America
Hanergy sets new efficiency record for heterojunction module
Chinese thin film producer Hanergy has set a new record of 24.85% module efficiency for silicon heterojunction technology. The record was achieved at the company’s research & development center in Chengdu, China, and has been confirmed by the Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hamelin, Germany.
Aug 8, 2019 // Technology, Manufacturing News, USA, Germany, China, Europe, Asia, Hanergy, heterojunction module, silicon, Institute for Solar Energy Research, Kaneka, Zhang Bin, Miasolé, CIGS thin film, North America
‘Unprecedented’ collaboration between EV manufacturers could launch large-scale transition
Energy analysts from the United Kingdom have found that many of the world’s largest car manufacturers that are launching EVs, or looking to launch EVs, are engaged in an “unprecedented” level of collaboration in order to share the costs and risks inherent in EV development. Cornwall Insight found that the collaboration could see a major boom in supply from the early 2020s.
Aug 8, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Storage, Transport, Toyota, UK, Hyundai, Transport, EV development, Cornwall Insight, Tom Lusher
New alliance to expand floating PV in Southeast Asia
Pestech, a Malaysia-based electrical power technology company, has entered into a partnership with Chinese inverter maker Sungrow to jointly develop new floating solar solutions.
Aug 8, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, Inverters, Floating PV, Malaysia, Sungrow, floating PV, inverter, Pestech
Wood Mackenzie expects more consolidation in inverter business
The research firm says the value of the global inverter market will continue to decline until 2024, even though shipments will likely increase. China’s recent policy changes have increased pressure on prices, which will contribute to greater consolidation in the sector.
Aug 8, 2019 // Inverters, ABB, Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, Sungrow, China, Inverters, Huawei, SMA, Schneider Electric
Neoen gets green light for PV-wind-battery hub in South Australia
French renewables developer Neoen has won development approval from the South Australian government for a major renewable energy project, with 125 MW of wind, 150 MW of solar PV and 130 MW/400 MWh of lithium-ion battery storage. The project could also include up to 50 MW of on-site hydrogen production capability.
Aug 8, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Storage, Solar to Fuel, France, Australia, Europe, neoen, hydrogen, lithium-ion battery storage, Crystal Brook Energy Park, Garth Heron, Dan van Holst Pellekaan, Oceania, Solar to Fuel, Solar to Hydrogen, Producing Hydrogen, Hydrogen from renewable, Renewable fuels
Why are prices rising in France’s utility-scale PV tenders?
Earlier this week, the French government published a list of winning projects for the sixth round of its tender for large-scale solar. There were a few changes from the preceding round, with French companies such as Urbasolar, Engie and Total consolidating their positions. However, even though a higher number of projects were submitted, prices increased slightly in the end. In a short conversation with pv magazine, Xavier Daval — a representative of SER, the French renewable energy association — explained the reasons for this.
Aug 8, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, France, Germany, Engie, tender, utility-scale PV, Europe, Total, Urbasolar, Xavier Daval, CRE, Enerparc
Oxford PV to become heterojunction/perovskite solar cell manufacturer
Perovskite solar cell developer, Oxford PV is to become a merchant heterojunction with perovskite top cell manufacturer with orders placed with Meyer Burger that will provide an initial 250MW of cell capacity that will enter production by the end of 2020.
Aug 8, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Germany, c-si manufacturing, solar cell, oxford pv, heterojunction, perovskite, Frank P. Averdung, meyer burger
Top Spanish bank backs fully merchant 79.2MW PV project
One of Spain’s largest banks has gotten behind a utility-scale solar portfolio, planned without support from auctions nor power purchase agreements (PPAs).
Aug 8, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, Spain, Renovalia, Banco Sabadell, Europe, subsidy-free solar, subsidy-free pv, unsubsidised, merchant solar, renovalia energy, J&A Garrigues, Luxcara