South Korea

New modules incorporating American company 1366 Technologies’ 3D direct wafers were unveiled yesterday at the SNEC trade show in Shanghai. The prototype modules are produced by Korean manufacturer Hanwha Q Cells. The two companies have a strategic partnership going back several years, and are ramping up a wafer factory near Q Cells’ module facilities in Malaysia.

Among 45 critical energy technologies and sectors assessed in a tracking report by the International Energy Agency, only seven are keeping hopes alive that climate, energy access and air pollution goals can be met.

Renewable energy investment in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding China, will overtake spending on oil and gas exploration and production by 2020, finds Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy. And Australia is set to emerge as one of the leading investment destinations.

Solar-plus-storage could be competitive against gas peaking power plants in Australia within the next five years, as the average solar-plus-storage LCOE across the Asia-Pacific region is set to fall from $133/MWh this year to $101/MWh by 2023, according to a newly released research report.

According to the Korean manufacturer, its Q.Peak Duo-G6 module is produced with larger wafers than those used in the G5. This is said to increase module yield by around 6% for a power output ranging from 355-420 W.

Under the South Korean government’s new strategy, renewables would cover up to 35% of total power demand by 2040. The government sees the potential to deploy up to 235 GW of solar and wind, but cites a lack of land and relatively low solar radiation as factors that could hinder growth.

The world had more than half a terawatt of PV generation capacity at the end of last year as emerging solar markets picked up the slack caused by Beijing’s subsidy about-turn to the tune of a 20% rise in installations outside China.

The transition for utility scale storage from offering short duration, high value grid services to the world of long duration energy peaking could spell the end of fossil fuel backup generation within five years.

In the latest tariff spat to afflict the solar world, India’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies will investigate a claim steel products coated with aluminum and zinc are being dumped by Far Eastern manufacturers.

The South Korean solar module maker has filed another claim with the Federal Court of Australia against Norwegian solar manufacturer REC Group, as well as PV distributors BayWa r.e. Solar Systems and Sol Distribution, for distributing products that allegedly infringe on its patents.