Leading CdTe thin-film module manufacturer First Solar has started production of its large-area Series 6 modules at its first manufacturing plant in Malaysia and said it was nearing the start of production at a third facility as new orders in the second quarter almost reached 900MW.
As the solar industry has grown from a 50GW market to 100GW in just a few years, the desire to have differentiated production has increased, especially for companies entering the market or repositioning strategies.
SolarHome, an off-grid solar firm focused on Southeast Asia, has raised US$5 million to date, having recently closed a US$1 million convertible note offering with impact venture capital firm Insitor Impact Asia Fund.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Hanwha Q CELLS has endorsed a third party market research report that has made the company the largest supplier of solar modules in Japan in 2017.
Leading PV manufacturing equipment supplier Meyer Burger has secured an order for its ‘SmartWire Connection Technology’ (SWCT) from an international solar module manufacturer in Southeast Asia for use with heterojunction (HJ) solar cells.
Partly to serve a major new industrial park, Japanese utility and grid operator Tohoku Electric Power will buy the power generation from a newly completed 28MW solar farm in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, Kyocera Corporation has announced.
Australian-based PV asset owner of New Energy Solar (NEW) has acquired an 87MW (AC) PV power plant, currently under development from leading CdTe thin-film module manufacturer, First Solar.
Hyderabad-headquartered firm Greenko Energies has received state government approval for a huge renewable energy project involving 1GW of solar, 550MW of wind and 1.2GW of pumped energy storage in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
