Price pressure and delivery bottlenecks lead SMA to significant loss in 2018
The German inverter maker struggled after China’s announcement at the end of May drove down prices and markets around the world and left a clear mark on its figures. Both the commercial PV segment and the storage business fell short of expectations due to delivery bottlenecks.
PV Market Alliance expects 120 GW of new solar capacity in 2019
The global market stagnated last year, with around 98 GW deployed. For 2019, the experts expect stronger solar growth, provided there are no setbacks in China.
Solar will rebound this year with more than 100 GW of new capacity
Wood Mackenzie’s number-crunchers are the latest analysts queueing up to predict a bumper year ahead for PV, with falling prices, rising efficiency rates and booming markets outside China all on the cards. And it could be a make-or-break year for mega-projects, says Wood Mac.
New York governor’s Green New Deal starts with 1 GW of large-scale solar
The state has also awarded 614 MW of wind, and three of the 20 renewable energy projects commissioned are paired with energy storage. NextEra, Invenergy and EDF are each set to build solar projects larger than 100 MW.
Wacker’s polysilicon business sees profit and turnover fall
The Munich-based chemical company posted an increase in sales but the fall in polysilicon prices last year and the temporary closure of US production after a hydrogen explosion had a significant impact on the results.
Google to build large solar plants in Tennessee and Alabama
The two biggest each have a capacity of 150 MW, with smaller plants bringing the total up to 413 MW. The projects are a part of the search engine titan’s effort to supply its annual electricity consumption from renewable sources.
Solar investment slid on the back of cheaper modules and China setback
The world again saw more than $300 billion of clean energy investment in 2018, according to BloombergNEF, and although wind narrowed the gap on solar, plunging module prices skewed the figures as PV capacity additions rose 10 GW.
TrendForce forecasts 111 GW of new solar this year
The Taiwanese market research company said the effects of the 5/31 policy shift in China were less severe than expected, and in 2018 the global solar market grew 4.9%, with approximately 103 GW of new additions. This year, the solar demand is forecast to rise another 7.7%.
American utility PG&E set to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company, founded 114 years ago, is filing for bankruptcy and may be broken up by regulators. None of which is good news for solar project owners holding contracts with the utility.
US will see more than 8 GW of solar come online this year
With 4.3 GW of utility-scale solar and 3.9 of distributed generation predicted, the figures collated from federal sources don’t take account of the huge capacity of solar projects waiting in the interconnection queues of seven grid operators.
