Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

According to the company’s insolvency administrator it is unlikely negotiations with potential investors will generate concrete results this month. Module production has been suspended at Freiberg with employees relocated to a transfer company.

The transaction, expected to be finalized next month, will be made through the purchase by the Advanced Materials business of the holdings of Q Cells’ three main stakeholders. The company told pv magazine the operation is intended to enhance the group’s solar growth strategy.

The 31/5 PV policy change in China led to Daqo New Energy Corp.’s exit from the wafer manufacturing business. Around 450 employees are set to be made redundant.

From cheer to gloom, the Indian solar industry has had mixed reactions to the Supreme Court’s interim order lifting the stay on the imposition of a 25% safeguard duty on imported solar cells and modules.

The South Australian government will launch its Home Battery Scheme in October, which will offer South Australians subsidies of up to AU$6,000. In the wake of the government’s announcement, the German storage provider has revealed plans to manufacture up to 50,000 battery storage units at the former Holden site in Elizabeth, creating hundreds of jobs.

Daqo New Energy Corp. has announced plans to stop its wafer manufacturing operations this month. It instead intends to focus solely on polysilicon production. Challenging market conditions were cited as the reason.

Following hot on the heels of Exide Industries, traditional battery maker, Indian-based Amara Raja Batteries Limited has said it will set up a 100 MWh lithium ion assembly plant in Andhra Pradesh. The company aims to establish a foothold in the energy storage market for electric vehicles.

Taiwan-based analyst firm, WisolPro says the global capacity for PERC cells is rapidly increasing, with the technology likely to replace polycrystalline cells. HJT, thin film, and n-type PERT technologies are also on the rise.

Chinese glass and display device manufacturer, Irico saw total profit for the first half of 2018 increase more than 500% over the same period in 2017, thanks in part to increased revenue from its solar glass business. The company also confirmed that preliminary construction is underway on its 2 GW module factory in China’s Jiangsu Province.

The algorithm is said to be able to examine the relationship between weather forecast data and the projection of electric circuit parameters. Through this innovation, Purdue University researchers claim they can interpret the routinely collected maximum power point (MPP) time-series data, to assess the time-dependent “health” of installed solar modules.