While some analysts have said the raw material shortage has eased sufficiently of late for its selling price to stabilize, the chief executive of Xinjiang-based producer Daqo made bullish statements about his company’s prospects yesterday, based on an expectation of continuing tight supply of the solar panel component.

Newcomer Symbio Energy has been told it must hand over £450,000 it owes to the FIT program which reimburses small scale renewable energy generators. The payment is already a week overdue.

Emirati utility DEWA has said it expects a further 517 MW of photovoltaic and CSP generation capacity to come online this year at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar field, after the first, 300 MW slice of the fifth phase of the sprawling development was recently inaugurated.

The nation produced 57% more solar cells in the first half of this year than in the same period a year earlier, according to a financial update from state-controlled manufacturer Luoyang Glass.

The German company will sell 70,000 tons of its product to the module maker over the course of a five-year contract.

The new headquarters planned by DEWA is intended to consume no more annual electricity than it generates, from a large volume of rooftop and building-integrated PV.

Furthermore, Zhonghuan Semiconductor’s parent company has reported strong results for its PV business and solar developer Shunfeng has halted trading in its shares.

Solar glassmaker Xinyi reported Beijing’s plans as it outlined bumper first-half returns whilst warning investors the boost in glass prices seen last year is likely to be short-lived.

The switch from fossil fuels and nuclear will bring a jobs dividend thanks to the greater labor-intensity of renewables plants, according to a paper published by Finland’s LUT. However, the jobs dividend is unlikely to be evenly spread around the world, with Europe set to be a big winner.

Maxwell Technology is planning to raise RMB2.3 billion (US$356 million) for a new HJT equipment production base in Suzhou City, Jiangsu province. Furthermore, Ginlong has reported its profits grew by more than 100% in the first half of the year.