Taiwan

Once the world’s second-largest PV cell manufacturer, Taiwan’s upstream industry was crippled under its inability to compete with mainland China’s bullish global takeover in PV manufacturing. The island’s government has put forth efforts to keep Taiwan’s PV supply chain intact – and ambitious goals and initiatives are driving demand from the downstream up.

The Taiwanese manufacturer said the 77 kVA, three-phase device is ideal for solar parks and commercial rooftops. The inverter, which has six maximum power point trackers, is said to have an efficiency of 98.8%.

Philippines-based AC Energy will work with UPC Solar Asia Pacific – the solar energy unit of Hong Kong-headquartered UPC Renewables – to build more than 1 GW of solar in the coming years, with an initial focus on Asian markets such as India, South Korea and Taiwan.

The ever worsening balance sheet of the Hong Kong-based solar manufacturer has triggered the removal of shares listed in Taiwan, which is likely to leave the company with a $2.84 million bill for buying them back.

Prime minister Su Tseng-chang announced the ambition and said the new solar plan for 2019-20 will bring investment and business opportunities of around US$7.5 billion.

Western Australia-based solar glass developer ClearVue has signed a deal with Taiwanese thin-film solar module manufacturer BeyondPV to set up a dedicated production line for solar strip modules at its production facility in the city of Tainan.

While Spain, Sweden, Ukraine and Brazil attracted more funds than last year, China’s transition to an auction-based procurement system and slow performance overall in Europe saw worldwide backing decrease. BloombergNEF does expect investments to ramp up in the second half, however.

In pursuit of its ambitious 2025 solar goal of 20 GW of installed capacity, Taiwan continues to be an attractive market for foreign companies and investors.

The Taiwanese manufacturer has confirmed plans to focus on PERC cell production, while scaling down its operational cell capacity from 5 GW to 2.5 GW. It said it could return to full capacity if cell demand rises again, however.

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.