The German mounting system maker has expanded its production capacity in Shanghai after opening a new, bigger fab in March.

Not one wind power project was submitted to the German network authority for the April round of a national clean energy procurement program. Almost 204 MW of solar generation capacity was allocated across 30 solar projects with an average final electricity price of €0.053/kWh.

Production is set to start in the first quarter of next year at the planned fab in Greiz, Thuringia. The facility will manufacture 370 W panels featuring half cells, large wafers and nine busbars.

The country’s coalition government reached an agreement on Monday to remove the limit from the national renewable energy law. However, economy minister Peter Altmaier has not said when the measure will be implemented.

Chief executive Gunter Erfurt told a German radio station a solar factory in North Rhine-Westphalia could supply high-efficiency panels for a 10 GW floating solar project on the vast Hambach open-cast coal mine.

In March alone, 368 MW of new PV capacity was deployed, representing an increase of just 18 MW from the same month a year earlier.

In terms of new solar installations, China was the world’s largest PV market for the third year in a row with 30.1 GW of fresh capacity in the 12 months to the end of December, followed by the United States with 13.3 GW and Japan with 7.7 GW.

Analysis from Wood Mackenzie shows global inverter demand grew 18% last year. The ten largest inverter suppliers accounted for 76% of the global trade.

The 11th edition of the German document which tracks solar price falls and efficiency improvements has considered the role bigger wafers are playing in cost reduction.

Trina Solar has been producing its 500 W modules in series for a month now and plans to increase their output to more than 600 W in the future.