Asia & Oceania

The Australian government’s renewable energy division will trial the capabilities of on-grid energy storage to maximise the value of rooftop solar, announcing yesterday that it will provide funding for a trial by energy storage specialist Reposit Power.

Almost 100MW worth of plans to install new PV generation capacity have been unveiled this week, with two new projects totalling 80MW added to the large-scale project on a former golf course which was reported yesterday by PV Tech.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, has announced the lifting of a controversial import tax on solar equipment.

Trina Solar, newly crowned as 2014’s top module manufacturer, is buying a minority stake in Shuntai Leasing in a move aimed at underpinning its downstream and manufacturing growth plans.

Chinese module manufacturer Suntech is targeting an increase in its market share for PV modules in the Benelux countries from 3% to 13% by 2015.

India has scrapped excise duty for off-grid rooftop solar systems.

Japanese telecoms provider-turned-solar developer Softbank could be in line to develop as much as 10GW of solar in India, beginning with the state of Andhra Pradesh, according to reports.

The grand opening of Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town, a joint private-public sector project to develop a community of 1,000 households, including rooftop solar generation capacity and energy storage, has been held near Tokyo, Japan.

Module manufacturer REC Solar is to be liquidated and delisted following its recently announced sale to China’s Bluestar Elkem.

PV developer and engineering, procurement and construction firm, Conergy, has won a contract to build 41MW of solar in the Philippines as the country continues to progress with its PV roll-out.