All News

The state government of Victoria has launched a tender for 650 MW of solar and wind capacity — which it claims is the biggest renewables auction in Australia — in support of fresh legislation that will set new renewables targets through 2025.

U.S. based PV innovator 1366 Technologies, and Korean PV manufacturer Hanwha Q CELLS have announced a new performance record for cells produced using 1366’s Direct Wafer technique. The cells achieved 20.3% efficiency, which has been independently confirmed by Fraunhofer ISE.

Although proposed in the report’s draft, the Australian Energy Market Commission’s final report on the Distribution Market Model does not mention imposition of charges for export of energy from distributed generators.

SMA has announced the completion of contracts for the operation and maintenance of two solar power plants in Chile. The plants are owned by Atlas Renewable Energies, and have a combined capacity of 180 MW. The plants include both SMA inverters and those of other manufacturers.

China’s irico Group New Energy has recorded a profit of CNY 46.7 million ($7.014 million) in the first half of 2017, up roughly 43.9% year on year, as revenue from its PV business jumped 27% to CNY 592.5 million.

At an international PV conference held in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, companies were demanding improvements to the political framework for the development of solar power in the country. Additionally, calls were made for low interest loans for private individuals, to cover initial investment in a PV system.

German automaker Audi and California-based Alta Devices — a wholly owned subsidiary of troubled Chinese PV group Hanergy Thin Film Power (HTF) — have agreed to collaborate on thin-film solar research, with plans to exhibit a PV-integrated Audi prototype vehicle by the end of this year.

Based on new data from China’s National Energy Administration (NEA), Asia Europe Clean Energy Associates (AECEA) has raised its forecast for PV installations in China for 2017. AECEA now expects to see 40-45 GW installed in China before the year end.

Chinese crystalline module manufacture JA Solar shipped 2.147 GW of modules, and a further 167.2 MW of cells to external customers, as well as 74.5 MW to its own downstream projects. This makes JA Solar only the second company to exceed 2 GW in shipments for a single quarter.

The Indian Ministry of Finance has imposed an antidumping duty on tempered glass imported from China in the range from $64.04 to $136.21 per metric ton.