Markets

The 12th Forum Solarpraxis kicked off on Thursday, designed to unite the movers and shakers of the industry in Berlin to discuss the issues currently facing the PV industry. Yet the clash between the pre-organised themes for the first day and the participants desire to look to the future outside of the German industry seemed to present a bit of a problem.

If module manufacturers and photovoltaic equipment suppliers were looking to the U.S. for markets to compensate for weak European demand, they may be set to be disappointed, a new report has warned.

Bridge to India’s Mohit Anand discusses the solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) landscape in India. In addition to identifying the main players, he also looks at their proposed photovoltaic pipelines.

The Chinese manufacturers are also suffering from the global solar slowdown. In announcing its third quarter (Q3) 2011 results, China Sunergy has recorded a poor financial performance and missed its shipment guidance. It expects Q4 to remain weak.

SunLink PV with its headquarters in Zhangjiagang, China, last week reduced its photovoltaic cell production capacity by 50 percent in light of reduced European demand and better pricing from third party cell suppliers.

While the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, protesting against financial injustice, has spread to many cities in the U.S., Europe and even China, a global “Occupy Roofs” solar initiative is being launched out of California.

The latest report on the world’s electricity future from the International Energy Agency (IEA), delivered late last week, forecasts a conservative outlook for the development of photovoltaics until 2035. EuPD Research says that such an outlook underestimates the competitiveness of photovoltaics specifically, and renewables in general.

Day4 Energy has announced that 28 employees will be let go as part of cost cutting measures designed to weather the current solar storm. It has also signed a letter of intent with Ever Energy Ltd to merge its operations, and announced a new CEO.

Set to be one of solar’s biggest topics of 2011 – a year already riddled with immense price pressure, insolvencies and investment issues – the U.S.-Chinese trade war is heating up. SEMI is the latest participant to make public its disgruntled feelings towards the petition. Meanwhile, CASM has vented its frustration at CASM’s defense of China’s “anti-competitive trade aggression”.

Following the publication of the medium-term forecast for Germany’s Renewable Energy Act [EEG] reallocation measures, economic policymakers from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) are now demanding a cost limitation. Once again, they are attempting to incite discussion about a ceiling for photovoltaics.