India prioritizes domestic products in plan for 12 GW of new solar
The Indian Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved a plan for projects to be enabled by public bodies in the hope that avoiding competitive procurement will enable it to circumvent WTO rules related to import parity.
Silver price to rise 7% this year
According to the Silver Institute, demand for the precious metal in the solar industry will remain stable up to 2022, despite recent changes in China’s PV policy.
Kness Group commissions module factory in Ukraine
The panel fab, with a production capacity of 200 MW, is in Vinnytsia, central Ukraine. The factory’s capacity is expected to double by the end of the year.
Swiss manufacturer Meyer Burger sells wafer business to PSS
Precision Surfacing Solutions is paying $50 million to take over most of the production facilities as well as 100 employees working in wafer technology in Thun and in service locations worldwide. Meyer Burger wants to focus on PV cell coating and interconnection technologies.
A year on from the Section 201 tariffs, Trump talks trade
There are indications the Trump administration may be closing in on a deal with Chinese authorities but, for now, the trade war goes on.
Helmholtz Center achieves 21.6% for perovskite CIGS tandem solar cell
The German researchers were able to improve the efficiency through a simplified production process.
LG solar business affected by panel price falls as Kyocera reports poor results for PV sales
South Korean manufacturer LG said import tariffs and panel price depreciation led to lower profit for its B2B division. Japanese electronics company Kyocera saw the revenue of its Life & Environment Group fall by 26%, year-on-year, in the first nine months of the current fiscal year.
Hanergy announces plan for 1 GW manufacturing facility in Saudi
The thin-film manufacturer this week signed an agreement with a clothing brand to develop a $1 billion solar thin film industrial park. No details have emerged yet as to how it will be funded or where exactly it will be based.
Taiwan’s URE inks 200-300 MW module supply MoU
United Renewable Energy was the result of a troublesome year for Taiwan’s solar manufacturing market. The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with Asia’s largest independent power producer – Vena Energy – for the supply of modules for projects in Taiwan’s strong development sector.
Bifacial 114 MW project in Brazil secures development bank financing
The plant, under development by Canadian Solar, has secured $80 million from Banco do Nordeste. The facility is scheduled to come online in mid-2020.
