Central & East Asia

Japanese telecoms provider-turned solar developer Softbank is planning to provide funds and expertise for 'mega' solar PV plants in India and to form a joint venture with Foxconn and Bharti.

Global PV installations in 2015 are expected to reach 57.4GW capacity according to Mercom Capital Group’s latest report.

India will install 31GW of solar capacity by 2019, which is short of a projected 69GW government target, but the market will still grow at an “impressive pace”, according to the latest forecasts from consultancy firm Bridge to India.

India has officially approved its well-publicised 100GW by 2022 solar capacity target after a meeting of India’s Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

State-owned companies including the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), Power Finance Corp (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corp (REC) plan to raise around INR50 billion (US$779 million) through the sale of tax-free bonds for renewable energy projects in India.

India-based solar developer Azure Power has applied for listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange, according to a local report.

Germany-based PV materials manufacturer Heraeus has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Taiwan-based PV materials specialist Giga Solar Materials Corp for allegedly infringing a patent held by Heraeus over front-side metallisation paste materials used for solar cells.

Essel Group has formed a joint venture with the Government of Rajasthan to set up solar parks with an investment of INR40 billion (US$626 million).

The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has released details of 28 solar PV projects totalling 505MW commissioned under India’s flagship solar programme JNNSM in Phase II Batch I.

German firm IBC Solar has completed an 11MW PV power plant in Rajasthan, its fifth to date in India.