Markets & Finance

Despite a number of new renewable energy proposals, Maryland governor Larry Hogan has kept "expensive" wind and solar at arm's length.

The recent announcements from Silicon Module Super League (SMSL) manufacturer LONGi Silicon Materials, to acquire the Malaysia wafering operations of Comtec Solar Systems Group and to align with Trina Solar and Tongwei for a new 5GW factory in China, represent yet more substance to LONGi’s active push to shift the industry to mono c-Si cell and module supply.

European sustainable energy innovation company InnoEnergy has invested €2 million in solar wafer epitaxial growth technology by NexWafe that increases the efficiency of solar cell manufacturing.

Monocrystalline wafer producer Comtec Solar Systems Group said it planned to sell its Malaysian facility and some of the installed production equipment to leading integrated monocrystalline ingot to module producer, Longi Silicon Materials.

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.

Thanks to Nevada’s largest utility NV Energy, Las Vegas city government is now powered 100% by renewable energy sources.

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.