The first wave of public listed China-based, China centric PV manufacturers reporting first half year financial results offers insight into the impact on companies after the Chinese Government capped utility-scale and distributed generation (DG) PV power plant projects at the end of May, 2018.
India’s Ministry of Power (MOP) has sent a letter to the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) asking it to accelerate the pass-through option in the case of any ‘change in law’ that affects power project costs, including the safeguard duty on solar imports.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member GCL System Integrated Technology (GCL-SI) reported a significant shift of its sales to outside China in the first half of 2018, accounting for 45.80% of total sales in the reporting period that also helped return the company to profitability.
The majority of member states have reportedly stuck to their original position in March 2017 calling for the trade measures to run out as soon as possible.
Building product manufacturer and distributor Gibraltar Industries has signed off on a deal to acquire SolarBOS, a California-based, privately-held provider of electrical balance of systems products for the US PV market.
Smaller companies are finding it increasingly difficult to enter the Indian large-scale solar market and partake in the multi-gigawatts of competitive auctions for PV capacity.
Major PV inverter manufacturer Sungrow Power Supply Co, recently reported a relatively strong rebound in revenue (up 10%) in the first half of 2018 but on a quarterly basis the second quarter sales increased 29% from the previous quarter, indicating that greater dependence on China and the utility-scale market with central inverters, creates a ‘solarcoaster’ ride.
PV and electronics equipment manufacturing and automation specialist Manz AG has secured another advanced payment for CIGS (Copper, Indium, Gallium, DiSelenide) thin-film manufacturing equipment, which is part of a major production order with Chinese partners, the Shanghai Electric Group and the Shenhua Group.
Major US solar farm buyer Capital Dynamics has closed on a US$1.2 billion fund to continue investing in utility-scale renewable energy projects in the US.
Arcadia Power has closed on a US$25 million investment round that the company will now use to expand its outreach to consumers and offer its services. In addition, the company announced that it is developing 120MW of new community solar projects across the US.
