South Korean solar-grade polysilicon producer, Hanwha Solutions is to exit the business by the end of 2020, following OCI’s decision to shutter polysilicon plants in the country.
Plans for sizeable layoffs by 2022 will mostly affect administrative and non-operational staff in Germany, says poly player of new roadmap launched after €55m losses last year.
North American PV module manufacturer, Silfab Solar is investing around US$4 million to boost production at its assembly plant in Washington State that could lead to extra jobs.
Exemption on customs duty for cells and modules in India widely expected to be lifted later in the year but there are still legal barriers to overcome, says Bridge to India.
‘Solar Module Super League’ (SMSL) member, JA Solar is planning to expand high-efficiency solar cell capacity to 10GW at a recently announced 5GW new solar cell manufacturing plant in China, while also investing in major upgrades at an existing cell plant to provide a further 3.6GW of high-efficiency cell capacity.
There needs to be a comprehensive industrial strategy for the solar industry located in the EU as part of the pending release of the EU’s own ‘Green Deal’ strategy, according to German manufacturing trade group VDMA (Mechanical Engineering Industry Association) and solar trade association, SolarPower Europe.
Coronavirus-driven manufacturing delays and supply chain constraints in China are starting to impact both upstream PV manufacturers and downstream installers across other countries.
With the spin-off of most of its solar cell and PV module manufacturing operations to new entity Maxeon Solar Technologies (MXT) expected in Q2 2019, SunPower shed new light on the planned capacity expansions of the new offspring in its fourth quarter earnings call.
Major Korean polysilicon producer is to close two solar grade polysilicon plants in Korea as production costs are almost double the current record low ASPs.
