Southeast Asia

Japan’s renewable energy capacity has reached a total of 1.443GW, according to figures released by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).

Panasonic has begun production at its new 300MW module manufacturing facility in Malaysia.

South Korean manufacturer STX Solar has joined forces with Korea South-East Power to develop a 45MW PV project in Japan.

German PV project developer Conergy is set to expand its footprint in Southeast Asia after it secured an EPC contract for two PV plants in Thailand from Thai Solar Energy Company Limited (TSE), a local investor. The plants will be located in Suphanburi Province and Kanchanaburi Province and have a combined capacity of 21MW.

PV installations in Southeast Asia are expected to grow at 50% annually over the next five years, bringing cumulative installations close to 5GW by 2016, according to the latest report from market researcher IHS.

Yingli Green Energy Singapore, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yingli Green Energy Holding’s, announced that it has been asked to provide 1MW of its multicrystalline PV modules to SolarGy, a PV system integrator in Singapore.

PV modules and wafers manufacturer ReneSola has announced the establishment of its Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa regional sales headquarters in Singapore.

US solar giant First Solar and Indonesia’s PT. Pembangkitan Jawa Bali Services (PJB Services) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the development of 100MW utility-scale PV projects in Indonesia in order to meet the country’s growing energy demand.

On September 4, Thai oil company Bangchak Public Petroleum Co. (BPP) connected its 44MW PV plant in Thailand — the largest silicon PV power plant in South East Asia, it claims. It is located in Bang Pa-In, Ayutthaya, which is around 40km from the country’s capital Bangkok.