China

Global solar installations could reach about 106 GW this year, largely on the back of high deployment in China and an anticipated demand recovery in Europe, according to a recent report.

Distributed solar can arrive in many forms, from the typical small array installed on a family home, to vast, multi-megawatt installations atop large warehouses and factories. Each market sector faces its own challenges and opportunities, and pv magazine has identified five key questions that could well shape these various rooftop sectors throughout 2018 and beyond.

As reported by Reuters, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology voiced concerns that frequent trade disputes may hurt China’s overseas expansion and would increase costs throughout the global solar market.

Despite approximate 25% fall in solar costs per MWh against 2015, last year saw more than $333 billion invested in clean energy, with global solar deployment figures topping 53 GW, finds new Bloomberg New Energy Finance report.

Inverter overview: As 2017 drew to a close following a record-breaking year for solar, pv magazine sat down to discuss the global inverter landscape with Cormac Gilligan, senior solar analyst at IHS Markit. With China dominant, India’s soaring solar market still very much up for grabs and technical innovation a perennial route to market leadership, these are the six trends that we believe will shape the solar inverter landscape this year.

Chinese media reports on development of the Jinan City Expressway, where weight-bearing solar panels are being laid for the 2km that stretches into the city of Jinan, which is the provincial capital of Shandong.

Milan Nitzschke, president of EU ProSun and spokesman AEGIS Europe, an industry alliance representing 30 European manufacturing sectors, explains what China’s quest for market economy status has to do with the new European anti-dumping directives, and what effect they will have on the measures against Chinese PV manufacturers.

The first phase of the world’s largest floating solar array has been connected to the grid in China’s Anhui Province, according to developer Three Gorges New Energy Company.

Tier-1 Chinese solar company trains sights on greater cost optimization and higher efficiencies with half-cell and bifacial technologies as it assesses capacity expansions for 2018 following a strong Q3 that saw the firm retain its shipment leadership position.

The Chinese solar company has terminated the agreement to supply wafers to the U.S. producer after repeated failures by Mission Solar to purchase the required quantities of wafers outlined in the contract.