Asia & Oceania

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.

Yingli Green will supply panels to the world’s largest floating PV plant, a 7.5MW power station in Japan, according to the Japanese company behind the project.

Solar developer SPI Solar has entered into a framework agreement to acquire 168.5MW of solar projects from engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm TBEA Sunoasis.