After disappointing beginnings, India's rooftop solar market is now thriving with 75% year-on-year growth. PV Tech caught up with Ron Shen, vice president, international sales and service centre at China-based PV inverter supplier GoodWe, to discuss knock-on effects of safeguard duties on modules, price pressure and market growth.
PV Tech caught up with Ku Junheong, senior sales director, Asia-Pacific and Middle East (APME) at China-based PV manufacturer Trina Solar, to discuss global demand profile and the rising markets of Southeast Asia.
Earlier this year, the African Development Bank announced plans to facilitate 10GW of solar across the barren, semi-arid Sahel region of Sub-Saharan Africa. PV Tech investigated how increasing human pressure on the land and the widespread cutting down of trees for wood and charcoal for fuel can be alleviated by solar PV technology.
French floating solar specialist Ciel & Terre is planning to further develop its floating solar platform systems to withstand more extreme conditions through a collaboration with Principia, a company that has a technical background in the offshore renewable energy industry.
The New South Wales Department of Planning & Environment has approved three separate solar projects amounting to 492MW capacity, including one project with 100MWh of battery storage.
Australia's Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has made its largest equity investment in renewable energy, with AU$100 million (US$72 million) in the Australian Renewables Income Fund (ARIF), aiming to encourage institutional investors to further expand their reach into clean energy.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will no longer finance thermal coal mining or coal-fired electricity generation and will focus instead on renewable energy as part of its new five-year decarbonisation energy strategy.
Specialist gallium arsenide (GaAs) PV manufacturer Alta Devices, a subsidiary of Hanergy Group, has achieved another new solar cell conversion efficiency record of 29.1%, which was certified by Fraunhofer ISE CalLab.
PV inverter supplier SMA Solar is to lay off 425 full-time staff and discontinue China as a location as part of a restructuring plan announced in September in order to return the company to profitability quickly.
