India should put in place immediately a basic customs duty (BCD) of at least 50% on solar equipment to safeguard the future of local manufacturers, the chairman of trade body All India Solar Industries Association (AISIA) said.
Suntech has placed into production a new 3.5GW high-efficiency module manufacturing facility in Changzhou, China, continuing its recent run of expansions.
‘Solar Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Trina Solar is planning its first major solar cell manufacturing expansion in recent years, driven by its migration to large-area PV modules using the 210mm wafer size as it ramps production of its high-performance mainstream ‘Vertex’ Series modules in 2021 onwards.
Major polysilicon producer Daqo New Energy expects polysilicon demand to outstrip supply for at least the next 18 months, due to the lack of new polysilicon capacity and strong demand as a growing number of ‘Solar Module Super League’ (SMSL) members continue to add in-house monocrystalline ingot and wafer production.
A strong rebound of utility-scale solar installations in India is not expected until 2021, with just 2.5GW expected to be deployed in the second half of this year, research from JMK Research & Analytics has found.
Severe floods in southeastern China have forced the closure of a polysilicon facility owned by Tongwei, dealing yet another blow to the solar industry’s supply chain.
Hit by grid connection challenges, large-scale renewable energy projects committed in Australia in the second quarter of 2020 were at their lowest level since 2017, according to new data from the Clean Energy Council.
The announcement from Tongwei on 10 August disclosing new cell price rises was a surprise for the whole PV industry. Compared to its previous quote on 24 July, the price of poly cells rose by another 6 USD cents/W, with a further increase of 8 cents/W for 156.75mm, 158.75mm and 166mm mono cells.
