China

A solid fourth quarter ended a good year for the Tier-1 Chinese solar company, where shipments topped 5.2 GW and revenue reached $2.3 billion.

The Chinese independent power producer’s profit attributable to shareholders plunged 23.5% year on year to $79.5 million, as revenue slid 6.7% to $1.07 billion in the 12 months to the end of December.

The Chinese PV manufacturer expects to record a “substantial loss” for the year to the end of December.

SPI Solar Japan, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese PV group, has agreed to sell its entire interest in land and project development rights for 4.8 MW of PV capacity near Tokyo.

The Chinese PV maker has completed its merger transaction and will now become a private company. Trading of Trina’s shares on the NYSE have been suspended pending de-listing.

Sichuan Yonxiang Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of Chinese industrial giants Tongwei, has announced the creation of a joint venture with Longi Green Energy Technology. The joint venture plans to build a new polysilicon production plant in Sichuan Province, China, with an annual capacity of 50,000 metric tonnes.

The company’s ENERGi systems will be used to enable a more than 1 GW expansion of high-efficiency n-type mono cell capacity for an un-named customer in China, a big boost for the technology.

The Chinese integrated PV manufacturer and developer currently has 335 MW of solar capacity under construction in seven countries, with plans to finish 550 MW by the end of the year.

An preliminary finding by the Department of Commerce could lower import duties first imposed on Taiwan solar cell manufacturers in 2014 from high double-digits to single digits, while tariffs on Chinese module and cell manufacturers imposed at the same time remain in place.

The Chinese polysilicon producer’s net profit rose sharply from $13 million a year earlier, as revenue jumped 25.9% year on year to $229.1 million.