The contract figure is based on today’s mono prices and equates to almost 20% of the revenues seen in 2018. The supply deal is the second big order the company has secured in 12 months.

The Chinese manufacturer has embarked upon an upgrade of 1.5 GW of its module production lines which is set to be completed this year. Previously used to get around trade restrictions applied by the EU, the Thai facility will now produce output for the U.S. market.

Each shift in Chinese PV policy is watched by the solar world. And the reforms unveiled in late April and early May have left many scrambling to catch up. While they may rein in unbridled growth, the changes are leaning towards a future of further cost reductions, particularly soft costs, and the golden goal of grid parity PV.

The two Chinese companies will acquire 30% shares in each other’s respective wafer and silicon businesses and plan to purchase at least 75% of each other’s future output, as part of a complex mutual investment arrangement announced ahead of the SNEC PV Power Expo 2019.

While the world’s biggest solar manufacturers are confident there are plenty of alternative markets for a rising volume of panel exports, the message spelled out by first-quarter shipment figures is that protectionism works.

The solar manufacturer has revealed plans to invest around $875 million in production capacity for monocrystalline ingots, wafers and cells – and expects to raise a chunk of the cost with a shares issue this week.

Projects not encompassed by the new, central-subsidy-free, ‘grid-parity’ regime will be eligible to bid for a government subsidy. But, at a reported $446 million, the pot is not very big.

The capital city of pollution-blighted Zhejiang province has announced an ambitious clean air policy in the wake of Beijing’s call for local governments, big lenders and power companies to pull out the stops to restart the solar revolution.

Growing evidence of a renewed confidence in the Chinese – and dependent global – solar market was again obvious as Zhonghuan Semiconductor and GCL put their prices up this week. The smart money is on Longi doing the same in short order.

Sources have told pv magazine the authorities are ready to restart the nation’s residential rooftop segment and have also agreed upon subsidy payments for other distributed generation and utility-scale projects.