Markets & Finance

US installer REC Solar has announced that it is set to focus its future efforts solely on the commercial PV market, offloading its residential segment to solar developer and financier Sunrun.

Roth & Rau, a subsidiary of Meyer Burger, reported a 50% drop in revenue for 2013 compared to the previous year, with increased losses.

Industry advocacy body, the Australian Solar Council, has launched a ‘save solar’ campaign.

Robert Bosch subsidiary, PV module manufacturer aleo solar is to be acquired by Taiwan-based solar cell producer, Sunrise Global Solar Energy and Japanese manufacturing machinery producer, CHOSHU Industry.

SolarWorld said in a statement that it had reached an agreement with a long-term “raw material” supplier to restructure supply contracts that would result in impairment charges in the “double-digit million Euro amount.”

The programme has been repeatedly successful and director general Arun Kumar has said it will now run every month.

Equipment suppliers serving the PV manufacturing sector are expected to see a new cycle of capital expenditure begin early next year that could reach US$10 billion by 2017, according to NPD Solarbuzz.

The decision to penalise US polysilicon producers with heavy import duties by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) as part of the ongoing trade war has led to both Wacker and OCI grabbing further polysilicon market share in the country.

Gujarat, India’s leading solar state, is to introduce a net metering policy in the coming weeks, according to local press reports.

REC Solar has released preliminary financial results for the fourth quarter of 2013, indicating sales to be around US$182 million, compared to US$148 million in the third quarter of 2013.