SunPower is planning gigawatts of PV projects over the coming years, but has yet to make public its plans for a new wave of manufacturing capacity expansions. Mark Osborne explores what options may be open to the US company in the race to remain competitive.
Despite Reuters and whole bunch of mainstream media as well as some specialists in the renewable’s field having initially pronounced a major US$4 billion JV between SunEdison and India’s large conglomerate, Adani Group was a done deal back at the beginning of the year, those that did so should re-acquaint themselves with the terms 'memorandum of understanding' (MOU) and 'feasibility study'.
PV Tech’s preliminary analysis of global PV manufacturing expansion plans for the month of July, 2015 provide a longer-term picture to future expansions rather than more immediate decisions, underlying a lull in ‘meaningful’ capacity additions.
Recent reports of tigthening supply and falling polysilicon prices indicate that PV module manufacturers could be entering a period of improved profitability not seen for the last three years, writes Mark Osborne.
Solar energy now accounts for 1% of all global electricity demand but the next 1% will come much sooner. Tom Kenning investigates just how much quicker.
On the eve of an expected announcement by the Indian government detailing how it will reach its 100GW solar target, Tom Kenning looks behind the figures and asks if it can all be for real.
Recent history has not been kind to PV manufacturers that climb the rankings chart to become the global leader. Since 2007 when the industry really started to breakout of being a cottage industry and scale production, Sharp began a slow fall from the top, Suntech and First Solar both had short stays at the top and more recently, Yingli Green. After two years as the leading PV manufacturer, measured by module shipments, the company lost the top spot to Trina Solar in 2014.
