Finance

Wacker Chemie has taken the first steps of its restructuring program with the lay-offs set to particularly affect its German locations. Poor performance by the chemical company’s polysilicon business is the main cause of the crisis.

A report published by the Rocky Mountain Institute makes recommendations for rooftop PV in regions affected by high winds. The study draws on the knowledge of structural engineers asked to analyze 25 solar systems across five Caribbean islands after they were hit by major hurricanes in 2017 and last year.

Banco Sabadell has acquired a 41.5% interest in Pamplona-based STI Norland through its Aurica Capita fund.

Lack of flannel in the latest quarterly and full-year filing indicates the Israeli inverter maker is happy the figures speak for themselves. The company is in an expansionary mode as it enters the energy storage and electrical vehicle markets with cash from its financial warchest.

The 100 MW tender was five times oversubscribed and the average final price tariff offered was €0.05 lower than the previous procurement round.

Consultancy Bridge to India has looked into its crystal ball to predict India will add 10 GW of solar capacity this year and the same next year before deployment slows to 7 GW per year in 2022 and 2023, dogged by hurdles such as an inexplicable ongoing demand for new coal-fired power plants.

The 5 GW of new production lines announced by JA Solar at the start of the year have now been doubled as the company also unveiled plans to rejig up to 3.6 GW of its existing facilities to accommodate bigger wafers.

The PexaQuote software is said to allow both parties to a power purchase agreement to identify the best structure and price for a deal within seconds. The platform provides price indices, a deal tracker and a quote service.

The twice-postponed $230 million investment which will see Chinese state-owned Beijing Energy acquire a 32% stake in Hong Kong-listed developer Panda Green has finally gone through. The developer now has five months to drum up enough to pay off two more of its other three state-owned backers.

MIT scientists have taken a deep dive into solar technology markets in search of an economically sustainable path to commercialization for perovskites. The group estimates $1 billion of capital expenditure would be required to achieve the economies of scale necessary to compete with rival solar module technologies. However, several alternative suggestions for scaling up with lower investment costs were also considered.