Markets & Finance

Utilities must rise to the “challenge” of increasing renewable energy deployment, while disruptive threats posed to utility companies by distributed generation and renewables should be kept to a minimum, according to top names at the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Falling technology costs and scalability make solar highly suitable for the South American market, according to PV materials manufacturer DuPont.

GCL Poly has secured two new credit lines worth a total of US$490 million. Downstream affiliate GCL New Energy also confirmed it had secured a 95% interest in a project in Jiangsu Province.

US residential solar installer and leasing company Vivint Solar is preparing to make an initial public offering (IPO) of common stock, having made a filing with the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC).

Suntech is targeting the South American markets and expects Brazil and Mexico to follow Chile’s lead on utility-scale solar.

Suniva will offer leases and PPAs to community groups through the partnership with TCC.

Major PV manufacturer Trina Solar took a hit on margins in the second quarter of 2014, while module shipments soared as China and US markets rebounded strongly.

China-based PVEP, Hareon Solar Technology has signed a number of project development deals in China and Turkey totalling around 3,350MW. The company has also secured lines of credit with two Chinese banks totalling 20 billion Yuan (US$3.25 billion).

The government has promised to support all domestic solar manufacturing and plants should run at full capacity and expand.

The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, has launched the NY-Sun Initiative, a plan to consolidate the state’s existing solar incentive programmes into a single support scheme, aimed at adding 3GW of solar generation capacity by 2023.