Central & East Asia

Singapore’s Equis Energy is teaming up with EPC Bouygues Energies & Services and Toho Electrical to build a 13.7MW solar project in the Aomori Prefecture in Japan.

India-based PV manufacturer and EPC firm Vikram Solar has expanded its module manufacturing capacity from 900MW to 1GW at its fab in Kolkata.

Major PV inverter manufacturer Sungrow Power Supply Co is building a 150MW floating solar plant in China in close proximity to its recently completed 40MW floating PV project - currently the world’s largest.

New York-headquartered renewables project developer and EPC firm Arcor has partnered with Indian firm Ezon Energy Solutions to develop 50MW of solar PV projects in the Indian state of Karnataka.

Germany-headquartered PV firm IBC Solar commissioned its 22.5MWp project in Rajasthan last week.

Recently, PV Tech sat down with David Zhao, senior vice president at Sungrow Power Supply and president of the company’s PV & storage division, to gain an insight into the company’s market expectations for 2017, notably outside China, and understand key market and technology trends within the APAC and South East Asia regions, areas that have been key to its continued growth in recent years.

Solar modules in India will be taxed at a rate of 5% as opposed to the 18% that was announced two weeks ago under the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

At least 13.7GW of planned coal-fired power plants have been cancelled in India this month, while solar prices have tumbled to new lows, showing that India’s energy transformation is in full swing, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

The Indian Power Ministry has put forward plans to compensate for grid curtailment of existing renewable energy projects, according to credit rating agency India Ratings and Research (Ind Ra).

India’s Union Cabinet has approved plans to raise bonds worth INR23.6 billion (US$366 million) for a large range of renewable energy initiatives.