Three major Chinese PV manufacturers, Longi Silicon Materials, Trina Solar and Tongwei, via its polysilicon subsidiary, Sichuan Yongxiang, are to form a Joint Venture (JV) to own and operate a previously planned 5GW monocrystalline silicon ingot pulling production plant in Lijiang City, Yunnan Province, China, by Longi.
The Indian states of Telangana and Assam have joined the government’s major rescue package for the country’s debt-laden distribution companies (Discoms), on the same day that a web portal and mobile app for the scheme was launched.
Mexico's SENER forecasts massive solar growth, with a 20-fold increase totalling 5.4GW by the end of 2019. In Spain, the long-anticipated renewable energy auction is given a confirmation for the first quarter of this year. Over in Chile, solar energy is being used to power the Santiago metro, through SunPower's El Pelícano project.
The tax on solar self-consumption in the Balearic Islands of Spain has been doubled by a ministerial order, causing uproar from Spain’s PV industry association UNEF.
The wholly-owned subsidiary of ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Canadian Solar, CSI New Energy, has completed the sale of two Chinese solar plants to state-owned Shenzhen Energy for US$32.2 million.
India has proposed providing a grant of up to INR3.75 million per MW (US$54,100) to encourage distribution companies to support net metering of rooftop solar on their networks.
Ohio governor John Kasich has stuck to his guns and vetoed a bill that sought to make compliance for investor-owned utilities (IOUs) with the state’s energy standards voluntary, as opposed to mandatory, for a further two years.
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has formerly partnered with the Solar Energy Finance Association (SEFA) to lower the cost of capital in the industry and form a single voice for organising stakeholders including developers, investors and lenders.
If Trump goes ahead with his threat to scrap the Clean Power Plan, legal action will ensue, according to 15 state attorney generals who penned a letter to the President-elect.
Even though monkeys were allegedly wreaking havoc on India’s solar rooftop systems last year, 2016 was remarkable for the Indian PV sector. With solar taking 1% the nation’s electricity share and India set to become the world’s third largest market in 2017 , Bloomberg New Energy Finance has proclaimed that ‘solar is king of Indian renewables’. Add the completion of the world’s largest solar plant to these accolades and you have a good indicator of the South Asian giant’s ambitions. Even India’s biggest oil, steel and mining companies are getting on board the solar rush.
