Hanwha Q Cells secures 300 MW order for 2.1 GW floating complex in South Korea
The Korean manufacturer was chosen as a preferred bidder for a portion of the Saemangeum solar complex. The company will likely supply its special panels for floating PV for the project.
Korean poly maker’s figures dragged down by idled production lines
The Covid-19 pandemic helped ensure chemicals business OCI could not put its idled polysilicon lines in Gunsan back into use last year, as had been hoped, prompting another hefty assets impairment which weighed on the group even as it expects supply of the raw material to be kept tight by rising demand.
Italian sovereign wealth fund joins forces with Eni to deploy 1 GW of solar and wind
Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Equity and the Italian energy giant have created a joint venture that will invest around €800 million in renewables in their homeland by 2025. The two companies are planning to build large scale plants with the option of utilizing properties owned by the Italian government.
Solar mini-grid to protect Austrian highway from blackouts
The Austrian motorway company Asfinag is planning to power, with solar-plus-storage, all its maintenance facilities. These installations are planned to power the stations at night and in the event of a grid failure.
Manufacturing amid market concentration
The solar market is expected to grow in 2021, following a year of pandemic-driven supply chain disruptions, exacerbated by explosions at polysilicon plants. PV InfoLink estimates almost 154 GW of module demand in 2021, up by 10% on 2020. Analyst Amy Fang examines the key market trends for the first quarter.
Guggenheim Solar Index: Headwinds, or a healthy correction?
In the month of February, the solar industry witnessed a decline, writes Jesse Pichel of ROTH Capital Partners. Increasing prices throughout the supply chain and forced labor concerns from China spelled headwinds for the solar industry, but the decline can also be viewed as a healthy correction, following historic highs in January.
Polysilicon maker Daqo presents another set of blockbuster figures
A planned IPO of the Chinese company’s main, Xinjiang business unit is set to finance construction of another 35,000 metric tons of annual production capacity by this time next year even as soaring sales volumes in 2020 enabled Daqo to pay down the bill for its previous expansion.
Japanese researchers build tin(II) sulfide solar cell with high open-circuit voltage
The single-junction cell has a conversion efficiency of only 1.4%, but its creators claim it may easily reach between 4 and 5%, when properly optimized. The device also showed a remarkable open-circuit voltage of 360 mV, which the scientists described as the highest VOC value ever reached for SnS‐based heterojunction solar cells.
Poland hits 4 GW milestone
The Polish grid operator connected 2.63 GW of PV capacity in 2020, while newly installed capacity surpassed 150 MW in January 2021.
Portuguese authorities review 1 GW solar project with Tesla batteries
A newly proposed solar project in Portugal could almost double the nation’s installed PV capacity. The installation will likely require an investment of around €1 billion.
