Manufacturing

The German solar manufacturer has announced it has filed for insolvency, just seven months after exiting previous proceedings. Chinese parent company LDK Solar is under fresh scrutiny after recent Chinese solar defaults.

Chinese manufacturer Shunfeng has finally revealed details of its protracted takeover of Wuxi Suntech. The deal will be put to a shareholder vote on April 7.

Draft government proposals for a fresh round of retroactive FIT cuts have caused further dismay for renewables investors. The terms of the proposed ‘New Deal’ for renewable energy producers would reduce both backdated and future payments.

The local government of Wuxi turned to Hanwha SolarOne for a 100 MW, ‘long-term’ solar rooftop scheme, despite the 4 GW of Wuxi Suntech cell and module capacity on its own doorstep.

The overcapacity and price falls that dogged manufacturers are expected to have finally fed through into this year’s results for German inverter maker SMA Solar. The figures will be confirmed on Thursday.

An influx of orders in the latter part of 2013 came too late to boost sales for the Swiss engineering company, which saw annual losses increase 47%.

The 24 MW solar plant in the Californian Desert is the largest to date to be brought online under the state’s Renewable Auction Mechanism (RAM) program.

The three-day Shanghai conference and exhibition showcased a booming domestic PV market and a recovering manufacturing industry while focusing on the country’s increasingly significant downstream sector.

The U.S. solar company’s financial guidance predicts net sales to reach $4bn this year as plans are announced to boost rooftop growth.

PV installed capacity increased significantly in February with the connection of the 48.2 MW San Andres project. The volume of solar projects under construction increased from 128 MW in January to 225 MW in February.