China

The Swiss equipment maker has announced a fresh, CHF18 million order from Oxford PV but the news may have been strategically timed ahead of today’s update that it has completed the sale of its headquarters building.

KORE Power today announced its intentions to build a lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant in the United States to support global growth efforts for its Mark 1 Energy Storage System.

The Chaoyang facility is the largest of the first batch of central-subsidy-free solar projects approved in the world’s biggest solar marketplace. China Power has awarded three construction contracts to entities owned by its SPIC parent company.

The Chinese e-mobility company has been hammered since Beijing’s abrupt reduction of electric vehicle subsidies in the summer. Korean outfit LG Chem’s shipment volumes have gone in the opposite direction.

The Chinese solar manufacturer today admitted it is in talks with its lenders and strategic investors about a break up of the company after its 2018 annual accounts revealed an apparently unserviceable debt pile. Any strategic investor is likely to constitute a Chinese state-backed bail-out.

The rollercoaster witnessed in recent years by Taiwan’s solar manufacturers is written all over the words of Jenny Hsu, global sales manager of Motech Industries.

Dubai has narrowly missed out on reclaiming the title of having the world’s cheapest solar photovoltaic (PV) energy, after receiving bids for the latest phase of a massive solar park on the desert outskirts of the city.

The latest date for hearing the petition will fall just four days after shareholders vote on a proposed Chinese state-backed HK$1.55 billion bail-out of the business.

Shareholders in the heavily-indebted solar project EPC and building-integrated PV manufacturer will vote on the last day of the month on the proposed takeover of the business by a Chinese state-backed entity. No news has emerged of a winding-up order due to be heard yesterday.

Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites have garnered significant interest in the solar cell community in light of their excellent optoelectronic properties and low manufacturing cost. Meanwhile, in efforts to produce perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with yet higher efficiencies, considerable steps have been made in developing monolithic tandem solar cells.

Major polysilicon producer Wacker Chemie has warned its overall group profitability for 2019 would be around 30% lower than the prior year, due to continued weak demand from the solar industry in China and continued polysilicon prices declines to industry record lows.

Over the last decade, DuPont has surveyed more than 2 GW of PV installations and has analyzed a range of failure types and their causes. Hong-Jie Hu, DuPont’s solar technical and development lead in China, says that the materials giant is looking for Australian partners for its Global Field Survey program, with a particular interest in hot and humid and desert environments.

Beijing’s sudden retreat on electric vehicle subsidies in the summer has caused the value of lithium to hit the floor, with disastrous effects on the balance sheets of Chinese companies which had invested big in supply chains to support anticipated huge demand.

The heavily indebted solar project developer has revealed the state-backed element of two trailed fire sales of 636 MW of solar and wind project portfolios in China. The divestments will generate up to RMB450 million for the company while recognizing RMB200 million in losses on its investments.

There is movement in the heterojunction space, but will it be enough to surpass PERC’s momentum? New production lines show promise, but they might also be the last roll of the dice for Swiss production equipment supplier Meyer Burger.