Chinese PV cell and module manufacturer, Risen Energy announced yesterday that it has started the construction of a new module factory in Zhejiang province in eastern China. The factory is set to have a total capacity of 5 GW.

The project – the largest storage system using second-life and new electric vehicle batteries installed at a commercial building in Europe to date – was developed in partnership with Eaton, BAM and The Mobility House. pv magazine was present at the commissioning ceremony.

Jayant Parimal is the CEO of Renewable Energy at Adani Enterprises, which has developed more than 1 GW of PV projects in India in partnership with Huawei. Recently, pv magazine caught up with Mr. Parimal in India to discuss the massive opportunities in the country, and Adani’s switch from central to string inverters.

The Indian solar PV market saw 10.4 GW of new capacity added in the 2017-18 financial year, says Bridge to India, thus bringing cumulative installations to 24.4 GW as of this March. Leading the charge is the state of Karnataka. Concerns over the industry’s development remain, however.

With Intersolar Europe underway in Munich, pv magazine caught up with Alex Pan, Europe General Manager at SolaxPower to discuss the storage inverter supplier’s latest innovations and market position.

The Netherlands is a country with one of the highest population densities in the world and, as a consequence, it has constrained availability of surfaces and land for all kinds of purpose, including the deployment of rooftop solar power generators. Residential PV could really help the country implement its challenging energy transition, which is to reach its almost impossible RES targets for 2020.

Representations by big beasts of global PV win only a partial concession from the authorities in Beijing, with officials agreeing to honor FIT payments for any ground mount projects connected during the next three weeks.

Despite its huge potential in the region, solar PV has hitherto gained little traction in Central Asia. In Kazakhstan, two utility-scale PV projects have been realized, and a few are in the pipeline for Uzbekistan as it begins to attract international investors. But many challenges on the policy level have yet to be overcome.

A notification released yesterday by China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Ministry of Finance, and National Energy Administration (NEA) provides new regulatory measures for PV installations in 2018. Further details are as follows.

The Chinese manufacturer presented its new high-efficiency modules with MBB technology at SNEC 2018, where the company also announced a change to its marketing strategy