Whilst clean energy might be thought of as a partisan issue in the States, when it comes to installing solar, political parties are irrelevant, according to a new study by PowerScout.
There are many key metrics worth listing at the end of each year in the solar industry. In terms of the upstream/manufacturing side, two jump out as leading indicators for the year ahead.
The first is to rank the top-10 producers of the solar cells during the year.
Solar cells produced using p-type multi c-Si wafers retained their dominant market-share position in 2016, despite significant investments into p-type mono and advanced cell production, such as PERC. The transition to increased mono wafer use is now expected to be seen more clearly during 2017 and 2018, but depends still upon the relative end-market demand from the domestic Chinese market.
Capital expenditure (capex) for solar cell manufacturing is to see increased contributions in 2017 from Vietnam, India and Thailand, expanding the global footprint of cell manufacturing outside China across different countries in the Asia region.
Newly-appointed CEO and president of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) Abigail “Abby” Ross Hopper will helm the US’ main solar political lobbying group as it prepares for an unprecedented time of attack under the Trump administration. She caught up with reporters last week, to discuss what her top priorities for the association were.
The lack of information in a joint press release from Tesla and Panasonic, confirming a solar cell manufacturing partnership at the SolarCity/Silevo 1GW Buffalo fab in New York State was not a surprise, especially considering it merely rubber stamped an MOU previously announced that was only subject to the successful acquisition by Tesla of SolarCity.
The recent announcements from Silicon Module Super League (SMSL) manufacturer LONGi Silicon Materials, to acquire the Malaysia wafering operations of Comtec Solar Systems Group and to align with Trina Solar and Tongwei for a new 5GW factory in China, represent yet more substance to LONGi’s active push to shift the industry to mono c-Si cell and module supply.
Even though monkeys were allegedly wreaking havoc on India’s solar rooftop systems last year, 2016 was remarkable for the Indian PV sector. With solar taking 1% the nation’s electricity share and India set to become the world’s third largest market in 2017 , Bloomberg New Energy Finance has proclaimed that ‘solar is king of Indian renewables’. Add the completion of the world’s largest solar plant to these accolades and you have a good indicator of the South Asian giant’s ambitions. Even India’s biggest oil, steel and mining companies are getting on board the solar rush.
President-elect Trump has selected several of his cabinet members already, with the common theme being a shared climate scepticism and a kindred affinity for fossil fuels. The energy industry has reacted, with some despairing and others cautiously optimistic.
Trina Solar investors are widely expected to vote in favour of privatisation on Friday. The move would see the company unshackled from the reporting requirements of NYSE and potentially better placed to raise equity funds. But could the loss of transparency do more harm than good?
