Major PV inverter manufacturer SMA Solar Technology has once again reiterated sales and earnings guidance for 2018, after reporting first half year results but has become increasingly bearish on the global solar market, while its solar product order backlog takes a dive.
Following news yesterday of the first grid-scale solar-plus-storage system on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, two more modestly-sized projects show the potential diversity of applications for energy storage in the US state.
Major PV inverter manufacturer Sungrow Power Supply Co said that a 1.9MW floating solar (FPV) plant in southern Taiwan had experienced extreme environmental conditions through a dry season and then typhoon season that caused some unique issues but survived relatively unscathed.
China-based PV module manufacturer Jiangsu Seraphim Solar System Co has been accredited with a TUV SUD, IEC CTF (Customer Testing Facilities Certificate), which reduces time to market of new materials and modules under development.
Specialist PV manufacturing equipment supplier Amtech Systems is restructuring its solar cell manufacturing equipment business with job losses after China-based customers have pushed-out capacity expansion plans after government cuts were made to downstream solar installation targets as deployments far exceeded goals.
Hawaii has been a prolific installer of both rooftop solar and latterly batteries for energy storage and one of the US state’s smaller islands looks set to get its first ever grid-scale solar-plus-storage system.
Kazang Solar, the distribution partner of UK-headquartered off-grid solar specialist Azuri Technologies in Zambia, has been awarded US$1.6 million from the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) to provide home lighting products to more than 7,000 off-grid customers in rural Zambia.
