A preliminary recommendation from India’s Directorate General of Safeguards Customs and Central Excise to impose a provisional 70% safeguard duty on solar cells imported from China and Malaysia has been branded as “ridiculous” and potentially catastrophic, by PV industry members involved in finance, project development and analysis.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member GCL System Integrated Technology (GCL-SI) has appointed a new chairman and chief executive officer as Zhu Gongshan, the majority shareholder with the GCL group steps down from the post of chairman of the board.
Major China-based PV module manufacturer Risen Energy has recently signed a framework agreement to build and operate a 5GW monocrystalline cell and module plant in Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China.
Saudi Arabia’s omittance of the lowest ever solar bid from the final shortlist of its 300MW solar tender may have been a measure to restore investor confidence in the future of the market, according to a representative of global analyst firm GTM Research.
India’s 100GW solar target is under threat from remedial action against imports of solar modules, unless a range of recommended solutions are considered, according to a letter from the Indian Solar Association to the Finance Ministry.
Solar PV capital expenditure (capex) covering the midstream segments of the industry (c-Si ingot-to-module and thin-film) is now well into its second major upturn in spending, going into 2018, at a time when the industry is just about to move to a new phase in annual deployment levels of greater than 100GW.
The German subsidiary of UK firm Oxford Photovoltaics (PV) has been awarded €15 million (~US$18 million) by the European Investment bank (EIB) to support the commercialisation of the company’s perovskite photovoltaic technology.
The US could bring back its World Trade Organisation (WTO) dispute with India, after reports suggested the US believes the South Asian country has failed to comply with a 2016 ruling on its solar policies.
Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has issued an expression of interest (EOI) for the setting up of 20GW of vertically-integrated solar PV manufacturing capacity in India over the next three years, in an unclear and poorly worded release.
US-based vertically integrated manufacturer First Solar is to supply thin-film modules to a 100MW(AC) solar project developed by Zorlu Enerji in Pakistan.