China

While some of the industry insiders at REI 2019 have made predictable calls to scrap restrictions imposed by regulators, others have continued to maintain that policy support is crucial, while audience members voiced concerns about India’s lack of recycling rules.

When Sony first commercially introduced lithium-ion batteries in 1991, the industry recognized their potential to revolutionize portable electronics. Ever since, there have been countless efforts to improve the technology, with many researchers focusing on energy density and longevity, in line with demand from emerging applications such as electric vehicles (EVs) and on-grid energy storage. Julian Jansen and Youmin Rong of IHS Markit discuss the effect of safety concerns on this rapidly growing global market.

Polysilicon manufacturer Daqo has announced the start of pilot production in Xinjiang and expects to ramp up to full output by the end of the year, doubling the company’s annual capacity to 70,000 MT. Some 90% of its poly will be mono by that stage and Daqo expects 40% to be suitable for n-type products next year.

LONGi Solar has bagged yet another order for its high-efficiency module line Hi-MO 4, now set to power a utility-scale project in Vietnam.

A Swedish-Chinese research team has developed an organic cell said to be ideal for wide use in daily life to power internet of things-enabled devices. The cell could be used to power sensors that detect and measure moisture, particle concentrations, temperature and other parameters indoors.

Progress with solar projects worldwide have helped push ReneSola back onto the profitability path, with a cash boost "tentatively" secured from its top shareholder as short-term borrowings continue to pile.

The French oil giant and China’s Envision Group are forming a joint venture offering PV systems combined with energy management solutions. Total Eren is also involved in a 100 MW solar project in Uzbekistan.

TEESS, a 50/50 joint venture established by Total and Envision Group, has launched its commercial activity to develop on-site distributed generation solar projects for B2B customers in China.

This week, pv magazine headed to Marseille for the 36th edition of the EU PVSEC conference and exhibition. During the week-long show, leading universities and research institutes presented their latest results to the industry and public. As the conference heads into its final afternoon, we’ve put together five key takeaways from this year’s event.

The new generation facility was financed by the Asian Development Bank and built by Chinese company ZTE Corp. The project will sell power to the grid for $0.065/kWh, a record low for solar in the country.

Technical consultancy DNV GL has published its Energy Transition Outlook 2019. While the electric vehicle, storage and renewable energy industries are likely to see significant rises in demand, the sobering conclusion is the world will miss carbon reduction targets by a long shot.

On the first day of this year’s EU PVSEC conference, veteran solar researcher Pierre J Verlinden won the Becquerel Prize for Outstanding Merits in Photovoltaics. The award recognized more than 40 years as a leading PV researcher in academia and at leading companies including Sunpower and Trina Solar. Its recipient spoke to pv magazine about what is needed from solar to stave off catastrophic climate change.

The classical Greek philosopher Socrates believed the ideal house should be warm in winter and cool in summer. With clarity of thought like that, it's easy to see how the great man got his reputation.

The German PV equipment provider will not achieve the sales and earnings targets set for this year. CNBM is not expected to place orders for the expansion of its CIGS thin-film production operations in China until the fourth quarter.

The GCL System chief executive made comments that fly in the face of an expected solar gold rush in China that analysts predict will start this month. Though rising overseas demand will address overcapacity fears, according to Luo, the soundbite is sure to chill PV boardrooms across the world’s biggest solar market.