Markets

Some 15 countries are likely to be able to lay claim to the status of being members of solar’s “gigawatt club” in 2019, according to conservative projections from BloombergNEF. Nonetheless, PV suppliers, developers and service providers are always on the lookout for new pockets of growth. To kick off 2020, pv magazine’s global team of correspondents and editors have highlighted 10 “fast-growing” solar markets to evaluate where the opportunities, and potential risks, lie.

The debt-saddled developer has turned to another of its state-owned backers to dig it out of a hole as it scrambles to raise $242 million in eight days.

The Italian developer has announced most of its 37-strong Italian workforce will be laid off without spelling out why.

Solar deployment continued to pick up in the Middle East and North Africa in 2019, the Middle East Solar Industry Association has said in its annual report.

Tariffs ranged from €0.0470 to €0.0620 as the solar power price rose from the last national procurement round, which settled at €0.0459-0.0520 in October for an average €0.0490/kWh. Some 501 MW of generation capacity was allocated in the latest exercise.

The minister of environment and energy transition has told parliament two auctions for large scale solar will be held this year, with a new procurement round now planned. The minister revealed energy storage may play a part in the capacity tenders.

The embattled developer today published what appears to be a sales pitch as it seeks urgent investors ahead of an eight-day debt deadline.

The energy ministry has published a plan to radically simplify the renewable energy permitting process. The new system is expected to come into force as early as next month and will be applied retroactively to address a 22-month backlog in generation license applications.

The Chinese manufacturer had to ship a lot more ingots, wafers, cells and modules to secure a modest rise in returns, according to its unaudited 2019 figures.

The German PV equipment provider has agreed to supply manufacturing equipment for CIGS thin-film solar panels to the CNBM Bengbu Design and Research Institute for Glass Industry, a subsidiary of cement producer China National Building Material.