China

Ukraine’s favorite solar module manufacturer has posted another encouraging set of returns, after a difficult year in 2018. And Risen – which boasted 6.6 GW of annual production capacity at the end of last year, according to analysts at PV InfoLink – is committed to adding another 2.5 GW before 2022.

Hopes are high up to 5 GW of residential solar capacity will have been added by the time this month’s figures are added, as the household solar feed-in tariff still applies – but only until Thursday. However, the AECEA consultancy has again revised down its overall new capacity expectation for the year.

The factory, backed by the Turkish government in September, was originally intended to be built with the support of Korean solar manufacturer Hanwha Q Cells. The new partner is China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC). Production is planned to start next year.

According to official figures released by China’s National Energy Administration, new solar capacity installations in the third quarter of 2019 slumped to only 4.6GW under new support mechanisms that were implemented mid-year.

Inline solar cell measurement equipment specialist Aurora Solar Technologies (AST) has won a major repeat order from two top-tier China-based manufacturers of high-efficiency PERC (Passivated Emitter Solar Cell) solar cells.

The fact solar manufacturers in China are still aggressively expanding output illustrates the strength of global demand for PV even as hopes for a rebound in Chinese installations appear to have been groundless.

The Swiss solar equipment maker has already sold its corporate headquarters this week as it aims to generate a fighting fund until the hoped-for returns of a European PV manufacturing renaissance materialize.

The world’s solar superpower added only 16 GW of new generation capacity up to the end of last month, according to the head of the main industry association. Short of a ten-week miracle, the annual capacity figure seems set for a second consecutive steep annual decline.

China will build the huge solar park at its own cost for its energy-hungry neighbor in exchange for access to rare earths. The project was announced by the Association of China Rare Earth Industry.

A study has estimated the cost of PV project soiling may increase from €3-5 billion last year to €4-7 billion by 2023 due to more extensive deployment in high insolation and soiling-affected regions, such as China and India. The authors of the paper outlined the potential of soiling mitigation technologies while stressing more R&D is needed to reduce costs and for the adoption of such measures on a larger scale.

China-headquartered GCL-SI was among the module makers recognised at this year’s PV ModuleTech, arranged in Malaysia by PV Tech’s publisher Solar Media.

The four-year-old Hangzhou-based business says it already has a 20 MW perovskite module pilot line and is working on a mass production facility in the city of Quzhou.

D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI) announced it has acquired First Solar’s Cove Mountain and Cove Mountain 2 projects in Iron County, Utah. The acquisition of the two projects, the sales of which were previously disclosed by First Solar and which total 180 MWAC in capacity, nearly doubles DESRI’s portfolio of First Solar-developed projects to over 360 MWAC.

The Italian fossil fuel company is not hanging around when it comes to diversifying into PV, with almost 1.5 GW of generation capacity plugged in since the start of last year.

The Chinese manufacturer has officially unveiled its high-efficiency product in Melbourne after celebrating a 13.6 MW panel order from the nascent Hungarian PV market.