Markets

Proponents of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) loan program took a tumble on the Hill this week – as Republicans ratcheted up election-year resistance to both solar grants and renewable energy subsidies.

Photovoltaic activity in Israel is heating up: Arava Power Company has unveiled its US$150 million project plans; and Suntech discusses upcoming policy changes, which may result in higher photovoltaic quotas, and provides updates on its Israeli activities, including project pipelines and the market pullout of one of its modules.

Solar thermal plant equipment will be exempt from import duty in India. India’s finance minister made the announcement today. The belief is that project costs could be lowered as a result. Photovoltaics was not mentioned, however.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has again pushed back the deadline by which it has to make a preliminary determination of the antidumping duty investigation.

According to the industry experts present at the first “Energy Storage” conference, held this week in Düsseldorf, Germany, either technology could win the race to enable Germany’s renewable energy future.

As with many of its peers, Hanwha SolarOne experienced a tough 2011, with significant losses recorded across the board. Chairman and CEO, Ki-Joon Hong attributes this to a period of “adjustment and consolidation”. Going ahead, he says that capacity expansions have been put on hold and that conditions will “remain challenging”.

Having achieved a “historic” year in terms of photovoltaic installations in 2011, the U.S. solar market is estimated to be worth over US$8.4 billion. Declining system prices and improved financing options were said to be among the key growth drivers. Going forward, 2012 is predicted to be a another strong year, with 2.8 GW of installations expected.

Germany’s debate over its solar subsides is continuing – with a focus on the short transition period for the reduction of the photovoltaic feed-in tariffs (FITs). However, in a positive move, the country’s Federal Minister for Economics seems ready to make concessions.

German EPC Belectric and Japanese thin film manufacturer Solar Frontier have formed a new joint venture (JV) company, to develop ground- and roof-mounted power plants. Making reference Solar Frontier’s CIGS technology, which the company refers to as CIS, the joint venture will go by the name PV CIStems.

As part of Germany’s new solar subsidy, feed-in tariffs (FIT) for photovoltaic systems larger than 10 megawatts (MW) are to be eliminated. According to a media report, several companies, including leading project planner Belectric, are considering submitting a complaint against the Renewable Energy Act [EEG] amendment before the German Federal Constitutional Court.