Asia & Oceania

A joint venture has completed construction of two floating solar power plants in Kato City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.

SunPower today announced plans to partner with Apple to build two 20MW solar power projects in ABA Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefectures in Sichuan Province, China.

ET Solar has agreed to build a 70MWp solar power project in the Philippines with local partner, renewable energy developer Gate Solar Philippines.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has allocated up to US$15.2 million for a new research and development (R&D) round set to help industry-partnered projects that are looking to develop and commercialise renewable energy technologies.

Australia’s anti-dumping commission has terminated its investigation into alleged dumping of Chinese-made PV modules imported into the country.

One of Japan’s largest trading companies, Marubeni, which is already involved in both upstream and downstream sectors of PV industry, has entered the domestic market for residential solar.

The 3.275 MW Gatton Solar Research Facility at the University of Queensland (UQ) has been completed.

SKI Corp, Japanese a mobile phone sales agency, has signalled its intent to build a 24MW solar farm in the west of Japan and to borrow ¥8 billion (US$67 million), for the purposes of doing so.

Thin-film maker Hanergy, which has been the subject of recent press reports over “unusual” share trading, has opened a number of retail stores in its homeland, China.

The cost of solar in Japan declined as much as 15% in one year, but a lack of clear policy direction from the government has left a number of businesses with a “pessimistic” outlook of the industry’s future, according to a survey by the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF).