Global PV markets

According to the CEO of Spain-based solar development company, Solarpack, finding demand for photovoltaic projects is one of the biggest challenges today. Regarding the U.S.-Sino trade case, he further believes that “everybody has to realize where their competitiveness lies.” In the following interview, Pablo Burgos discusses competitive strategies, bureaucratic hurdles, solar policies and project pipelines with pv magazine.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has said that over one GW of customer-generated solar energy has been installed in the U.S. state to date. The milestone was said to have been reached in 2011.

According to Bridge to India, the second phase of India’s National Solar Mission (NSM) will include a Domestic Content Requirement (DCR). Meanwhile, it says that the depreciating rupee is creating difficulty for India solar project balance sheets.

GE Energy has made the decision to put construction on hold at its Colorado thin-film fab for “at least” 18 months. The fab was to have an annual production of capacity of 400 MW when fully ramped, employing CdTe semiconductor technology.

On the back of the new feed-in tariffs in Japan, which came into effect Sunday, July 1, Germany’s Deutsche Bank says that while it expects to see an increase in installed photovoltaic capacity, and thus falling costs, implementation hurdles still exist.

On June 22, the Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) announced a number of financial restructuring measures including measures to restructure its revolving debt facility and to offer approximately 870,000 million new shares to raise around NOK1.3 billion (US$218 million).

It is only a matter of time until SolarWorld AG finally files an anti-dumping (AD) complaint with the European Commission, alleging that China has flooded the German market with underpriced solar cells and modules, to the detriment of domestic manufacturers and in deviation from fair trade policies. In anticipation that the case will come sooner rather than later, Jefferies Group, Inc. held a conference call to provide insights into the differences between how trade cases are handled in the United States and the EU.

Through a strategic alliance, formed in 2010, Turner Renewable Energy and Southern Company have acquired a 20 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic power plant in Nevada. The plant was built by SunEdison and will be completed during the third quarter of 2012.

According to reports, the Bulgarian energy regulator has cut subsidies for photovoltaics by around 50 percent amid fears of escalating electricity prices.

After months of toing and froing, Germany’s new photovoltaic cuts can finally pass into law. As planned, the changes will be retroactively applied to April 1, and the transition period for larger plants will remain.