Vietnam

Last Friday, the German development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) officially released its “RTS – Technical and Administrative Guidelines for Commercial and Industrial Projects” to further support the development of rooftop solar (RTS) in Vietnam. Earlier in the week in a JinkoSolar-organized webinar, Tuan A. Nguyen of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s (MOIT) Institute of Energy provided an update on Vietnam’s growing PV market and especially the RTS segment. Mr. Tuan also coauthored the RTS Guidelines for C&I Projects.

Ho Chi Minh City-based construction company Trungnam Group said its army of laborers took just 45 days to perform site clearance for a project which took shape within 102 days.

Doubling down on renewable energy investment and energy transition spending is required to ensure a truly green global recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and its economic aftershock, claims the International Renewable Energy Agency.

Chinese solar manufacturer Dehui is planning mass production of 12-busbar bifacial panels based on 182mm wafers from next year.

The ‘safeguard’ duty will be levied on Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai solar cells – whether assembled into modules or not – at 14.9% from today and falling to 14.5% in six months’ time. Malaysian products are exempted as their imports have fallen dramatically since the duty was introduced, in July 2018.

Plus, equipment manufacturer Shangji Automation is set to enter the silicon ingot making game with plans for an 8 GW fab, while state-owned developer Panda Green says it plans to add 500 MW of annual project capacity over the next three years.

SolarPower Europe has predicted the volume of new PV capacity added this year will be 4% less than last year’s figure because of the Covid-19 crisis. At the end of 2019, the world had topped 630 GW of solar. For 2020, around 112 GW of new PV capacity is expected, and in 2021, newly installed capacity could be 149.9 GW if governments support renewables in their coronavirus economic recovery plans.

The unfolding effects of the Covid-19 crisis, and fears of a possible second wave, have split analysts trying to guess how the unsubsidized renewables market will emerge as slumping demand continued to distort power markets. pv magazine rounds up the week’s coronavirus developments.

Up to 150 GW of PV and wind projects could be postponed or canceled throughout the Asia-Pacific region by 2024 if the coronavirus-triggered recession continues beyond the current year, according to new research by Wood Mackenzie.

The coronavirus epidemic continues to batter the global economy, including the solar industry, but falling demand during lockdowns has brought negative energy prices as well as helping drive record solar generation, amid less-polluted skies.