Legal

The Japanese PV industry should respond to the government’s recent decision to leave its 2030 energy mix targets unchanged by pushing for a higher share of solar in the next version of the country’s strategic energy plan, according to a new report.

When U.S. President Trump’s re-imposed sanctions on Iran, many solar companies – predominantly from Europe – were in the process of developing massive project pipelines. These are now in jeopardy, even with the recently imposed EU blocking statute. Those seeking to pursue plans demand safe financial channels from the EU in order to continue developing PV projects, and to provide signal a clear commitment to the Iran Nuclear Deal.

As the debate heats up before Friday’s meeting between federal, state, territory and local government energy ministers in Australia, the Victoria authority has issued a last-minute call to redraft the proposed National Energy Guarantee, and the Australian Capital Territory has redefined its NEG approval condition with regard to the emissions target. Meanwhile, Australia’s energy bodies have taken separate paths.

Huawei spoke to pv magazine in response to the latest allegations made by SolarEdge regarding the latter’s allegedly infringed intellectual property. Huawei is adamant it is one of the world’s largest owners of intellectual property rights and fully supports the protection of IP. The Chinese manufacturer denies the claims made by SolarEdge and points to its extensive IP and research and development (R&D) efforts to support its defense.

The solar plant was commissioned last week in Ourique, southern Portugal. The project was developed by UK-based renewable energy company Welink and Chinese engineering services provider China Triumph International Engineering (CTIEC).

Wildlife vandalism is the least of the worries afflicting PV system owners in India, according to a report which exposes cost-cutting in installation, non-existent warranties, serious safety concerns and improbable performance figures.

Following the claim filed in June, SolarEdge now alleges Huawei has infringed two more of its patents. With its HD-wave inverter topology the subject of the first lawsuit, the Israeli manufacturer now says its Chinese rival also copied its power optimizer technology.

Spain, Portugal, France and the European Commission have signed a deal to increase the capacity of the energy interconnection between the Iberian Peninsula and Europe. Currently, the interconnection capacity is 6,000 MW and, thus, far from the 15% goal set in 2015.

In what analysts worldwide are sure to look back on as the last golden period for global solar – at least for the immediate future – China saw more impressive figures for PV manufacturing in the first half of the year. Then the government stepped in.

The EU alleges in its statement that the deal makes up for 28% of the global GDP and that the two blocks will focus on the development of clean energy innovations. This February, the EU Commission stated that future EU trade deals are contingent on Paris Agreement membership and have to include provisions regarding the fulfillment of the agreement.