A consortium of international chambers of commerce has advised the Vietnamese government that its draft solar PPA template is “non-bankable” and cannot attract financing for PV in Vietnam, particularly for medium and utility-scale projects, according to documents seen by PV Tech.
A 100MW AC (125MW DC) solar farm project in Australia will be sold by global utility-scale solar developer FRV (Fotowatio Renewable Ventures), to two investment groups.
Leading ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member JinkoSolar reported record PV module shipments of 2,068MW in the first quarter of 2017, exceeding guidance.
Norway-headquartered integrated PV module manufacturer REC Group has made a significant shift in its regional sales strategy, which was previously dominated by shipments to the US.
Industrial gases firms Linde and Praxair have announced plans to merge that would create a US$29 billion global business dominating many regional industrial sectors around the world. The major merger is not expected to be completed in the second half of 2018, subject to anti-trust agencies in Germany and the US.
The vast number of announcements related to P-type mono PERC (Passivated Emitter Rear Cell) production in the last 18 months have primarily related to integrated cell and module producers shifting in-house production to the high-efficiency cells, as conventional multicrystalline Al-BSF (Aluminium-Back Surface Field) solar cells reach efficiency limitations.
The US-based solar module assembly operations of China-based Seraphim Solar is ramping capacity to meet demand. Seraphim Solar USA has also been approved by residential financing firms, including Sungage Financial and Sunnova as an approved vendor.
Leading PV manufacturing equipment supplier Meyer Burger said that it had received follow-on orders from two customers based in Asia for its PERC (Passivated Emitter Rear Cell) upgrade technology totalling around CHF 80 million (US$82.4 million).
PV and electronics equipment manufacturing and automation specialist Manz AG has received a further €64.3 million pre-payment on CIGS thin-film equipment from Chinese JV partners Shanghai Electric Group and Shenhua Group.
