Finance

CATL’s new lithium pricing structure gives Chinese original equipment manufacturers (OEM) an effective discount of more than 20%. It is making the move to win more orders amid a slowdown in the electric-vehicle market and the ongoing efforts of cell manufacturers to secure raw materials.

Solar module prices continued to fall in January, and there is no end in sight. The main drivers impacting prices are lower shipping rates from China and the further recovery of the euro-US dollar exchange rate. Martin Schachinger, of pvXchange, expects other effects, such as slowly falling energy costs or polysilicon and wafer prices – which are in freefall – to further strengthen the trend in the coming months.

Long-duration energy storage (LDES) is essential for decarbonizing the grid but gigawatt-hour scale systems continue to be tricky for companies with big ideas. Here are some of the latest innovations across a flourishing array of new – and old – ideas.

Gentari, the clean energy unit of Malaysian oil and gas supplier Petronas, has finalized its acquisition of Wirsol Energy’s Australian renewables assets, including 422 MW of operational capacity across solar and storage facilities, and 765 MW of potential capacity under development.

SolarEdge’s revenue rose 58% year over year to $3.1 billion in 2022. It expects revenues for the first quarter of 2023 to be within the range of $915 million to $945 million.

Toyota Tsusho has agreed to buy an 85% stake in Softbank’s renewable energy unit, SB Energy, which owns and operates 773 MW of renewable energy assets in Japan, including 667.1 MW of solar and 55.9 MW of wind capacity.

Norway’s DNV has acquired Australia-based solar data specialist Solcast for an unspecified sum.

Sun Cable, the company behind the world’s largest solar and storage project, has officially gone up for sale after entering voluntary administration in Australia in January. Its administrator, FTI Consulting, is seeking binding offers of acquisition or recapitalization by the end of April, with a deal to be finalized by the end of May.

Swiss consultancy Pexapark says falling energy prices, lower heating needs, and healthy gas reserves have had a calming effect on the European power purchase agreement (PPA) market. It foresees an increase in transactions over the short term.

Switzerland has announced a new one-off incentive model for solar, in order to reimburse up to 60% of investment costs for installations that meet certain criteria. The scheme exists in addition to nonrecurring remunerations for small and large PV installations.