Central & East Asia

Integrated PV module manufacturer REC Group has said it has trimmed its global workforce by 3%, or around 65 jobs out of approximately 2,200 employees.

Swedish CIGS thin-film equipment supplier Midsummer said it had secured a follow-on order from an undisclosed customer for its flexible CIGS thin-film process tool.

Five Indian states have put in proposals to replace a total of 1,067MW of conventional power plants with solar energy for irrigation purposes.

India’s largest utility NTPC has invited bids for the development of 250MW of solar capacity in the Pavagada Solar Park in Karnataka.

‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Canadian Solar said that its recently launched 72-cell 1500V multicrystalline modules would be deployed at two planned PV power plants in Australia with a cumulative capacity of 47MWp.

China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) has published a draft version of proposed feed-in tariff (FiT) levels for ground mount and distributed generation PV power plants for 2017 that could lead to significant cuts to both sectors and overall curtailment of installations.

Leading PV manufacturing equipment supplier Meyer Burger Technology announced a major restructuring plan to become more flexible to market dynamics by lowering its operating cost base by CHF 50 million per annum and reducing its workforce by around 16% by the end of 2016.

Malaysia-based solar cell producer TS Solartech has made around 100 night shift workers redundant, according to local news reports.

China-based metal casting components firm Jete Power Holdings has acquired a 39% stake in China-based CIGS thin-film start-up Dongtai Energy Technology Company via the shares in the holding company, Novel Sino Group Holdings.

‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member JA Solar said it had withdrawn from the European Union’s Minimum Import Price (MIP) agreement.