Max Hall
AfDB announces cheap loans to back off-grid solar in Africa
The African Development Bank has announced that European and US donors will provide $20 million of concessional loans to support pay-as-you-go solar companies in sub-Saharan Africa.
Hanwha Q Cells unit prepares investment in IT sales operation
South Korea’s Hanwha Q Cells is preparing to take joint control of LynqTech in Hanover, Germany.
China dominated global solar jobs market in 2021
The 2.7 million people employed in solar in China last year dwarfed the 250,000 working in the US solar industry, according to a new report by the International Renewable Energy Agency.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: Eging to set up 10 GW of TOPCon solar panel production
Eging PV has signed a deal to build a 10 GW TOPCon solar module factory in Anhui province, while Tongwei has revealed plans to build a 25 GW cell factory in Jiangsu. Jolywood, meanwhile, has completed the first 4 GW phase of its 8 GW TOPCon cell factory in Shanxi province.
Cape Town tenders for solar in bid to escape dependence on troubled utility
The city authority wants a developer to construct a 7 MW solar project for it as part of a push to widen its sources of electricity, and says clean energy will be cheaper than – largely coal-fired – grid power from Eskom.
Euro solar industry on course to support more than 500,000 jobs this year
Poland was the EU’s biggest solar jobs market last year, thanks to a national rooftop incentive program, but Germany’s push to repatriate solar manufacturing will help the bloc’s PV powerhouse back to the number one slot in three years’ time, according to SolarPower Europe.
In Asean nations it’s all about the solar
Indonesia will have to get to work installing more than 24 GW of solar this year – and every year – if the region is to achieve the 2.1 TW to 2.4 TW of photovoltaics Irena has estimated it will require to achieve a net zero carbon energy system by 2050.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: Trina buys 70,000 MT of polysilicon from South Glass Group
In other news, a Chinese consortium is planning to build a 10 GW heterojunction (HTJ) module factory in Sichuan and Risen Energy is seeking to raise around $1 billion through a private placement of shares to finance its 5 GW HTJ panel production.
Pakistani regulator clarifies net metering proposal
A consultation about raising the level of payments made for excess household electricity injected into the grid appears to have prompted fears it could raise solar power prices across the board.
SolarPower Europe at odds with implications of EU windfall tax on renewables
SolarPower Europe has issued a statement opposing any moves by the European Commission to impose a lower maximum electricity price on renewables than on fossil fuel energy. EU member state energy ministers will meet this week to thrash out emergency measures to protect bill payers.
