Malaysia

The Spanish inverter specialist is to supply solar farms being built in Malaysia by Norway’s Scatec Solar, which in turn is working with local ITRAMAS-led consortium on three 21-year PPAs with the country’s largest electricity utility, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB).

The high-efficiency solar maker asks for Section 201 action to include First Solar’s thin film products, but to exclude its back contact crystalline silicon solar as a unique product.

Norway’s Scatec Solar has wrapped up financing for three solar arrays it is developing in Peninsular Malaysia, by issuing a 1,000 million ringgit ($237 million) green Islamic bond. Construction has already started on the projects, which will be finished in the next few months.

The enthusiastic response earlier this month to Malaysia’s second competitive auction for large-scale PV projects highlights the country’s growing importance as a destination for clean-energy investment, with non-hydro renewables capacity to rise from 1.4 GW last year to 3.4 GW by 2026, according to a new report.

The project will become the largest single solar site in Malaysia once completed. Chinese inverter company Huawei is installing its SUN2000-42KTL string inverters at the plant.

New research sheds light on the benefits of demand response applications in a low voltage distribution network with an integrated PV system.

The expansion of the Asian solar market in the first quarter of 2017 was broadly similar to the growth seen in the first quarter of last year, although most countries in the region have yet to reveal official installation statistics for the January-March period, the Asian Photovoltaic Industry Association (APVIA) said in a new report.

Engineering firm Cypark Resources has signed contracts to build two utility-scale PV projects for MYR 75.01 million ($17.4 million) in the Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan.

The Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) has published guidelines for the new net metering scheme the Malaysian authorities launched in January 2016 to replace the feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme, which will close at the end of this year.

First Solar brought in a net profit on the sale of a major solar project, as it orders tools and prepares for the switch to its large-format series 6.