Inverters

The inverter maker will buy 75% of Kokam’s shares for $88 million, with an intent to acquire the remainder shortly after, on the open market. Strategic company acquisitions and close partnerships are characterizing this year’s inverter market, as companies seek to diversify and integrate storage systems and other technologies.

In a study on the potential for local manufacturing of renewable energy equipment in the Arab region, IRENA has assessed how three pilot Arab countries – Lebanon, Jordan and the UAE – where development of clean energy is currently strong, may host PV, CSP and wind energy industries. In all of them, however, there are currently few chances of seeing a rising solar and renewable energy manufacturing industry, due to a series of challenges, such as, among others, the lack of a qualified workforce, and favorable regulatory settings.

The global top three companies have not changed compared to the 2017 ranking. Still in the U.S., SMA has lost its pole position to Solaredge. Ingeteam, meanwhile, is capitalizing massively on stable growth in the utility-scale market, and jumps from rank 18 to fourth.

At the EU PVSEC in Brussels this week, prominent representatives of the solar industry joined an appeal to rebuild a major European PV production line along the entire value chain. They called on the EU Commission and member states to introduce eco-labels and recycling criteria for solar modules, to stimulate PV expansion and align research policy with the revival of the solar industry.

pv magazine’s Future PV Roundtable, held at the 2018 Renewable Energy India (REI) Expo in Greater Noida, discussed how India can better adopt bifacial solar cell and module technology – the future of power generation. Prominent industry speakers also put forth their views on how standards can catalyze solar innovation for India-specific challenges, and on PV materials and components for enhanced module efficiency and recycling.

The state government is proposing a range of incentives and mandates to drive PV and solar thermal installations to almost 9 GW within four years. Under the proposed policy, 10% of the public fleet would be replaced by electric vehicles.

The European Solar Manufacturing Council has been launched at EU PVSEC in Brussels. Participating research institutes, mechanical engineers, material and PV manufacturers stress the importance of having big solar manufacturers in Europe.

The EU PVSEC conference and exhibition in Brussels began this morning with presentations from key figures in PV development, who celebrated the technology’s achievements so far and predicted even bigger things in the coming years. pv magazine‘s Mark Hutchins was on hand to hear all about it.

The Italian developer and largest shareholder of inverter maker Elettronica Santerno, said on Friday it would delay its financial results for the first half. Its statement also revealed the loss of a contract to build a 120 MW solar plant in Spain and a $5 million loss linked to another project in the US.

The German inverter giant says its latest central inverter offering has a capacity of 4.6 MW and offers the ability to connect AC and DC battery storage systems.