With many of the top-20 module suppliers to the solar industry now having multi-GW shipment volumes, attention has turned firmly to assessing metrics that companies can use to benchmark the quality and reliability of shipped products against their competitors.
Global environmental and industrial analysis firm Vaisala said it was expanding its solar sector operations in India due to demand with plans to double its workforce in the country by the end of 2017.
The solar industry is set to reach annual demand at the 100GW level much earlier than has been forecast by both third-party observers and the leading component suppliers. During 2018, the solar industry is shaping up to ship more than 100GW of solar modules during the calendar year, while 2017 alone will see the number exceed 90GW comfortably.
Mobisol has secured funding from Finnfund for its East Africa expansion, CEFC's investment commitments more than doubled last fiscal year, Acciona is supplying renewable energy to Latin America's largest retail store chain, Sungrow has supplied inverters and an energy storage system to the Bahamas.
In its tenth year of organisation, the Intersolar AWARD proceedings reflected a niche but high-profile sector of the downstream PV industry, floating solar. The coveted prize in the ‘Photovoltaics’ category went to project developer Ciel & Terre International, regarded as a pioneer of floating solar with around 43 projects completed.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Hanwha Q CELLS said its key strategic focus was to diversify its regional and market segment sales in 2017, while reiterating full-year PV module shipment guidance to be in the range of 5.5GW to 5.7GW in 2017.
News in Brief: Vivint Solar is taking advantage of Rhode Island's optimal residential solar conditions and expanding into the state, BBOX and Aeris are partnering to provide plug-and-play solar systems with IoT connectivity in East and Central Africa, Sri Lankan energy ministers are allocating funding to install solar systems in selected public buildings and India's Space Research Organisation has developed a new solar app for Android.
