In the wake of the US Withhold and Release Order and other sanctions targeting alleged forced labour in solar supply chains, Graham Vinter, Ursula Owczarkowski and Sarah Bishop of law firm Covington & Burling LLP explore the legal status quo and the options at hand for solar companies to mitigate contractual risk.
The PV industry “must remain vigilant” across its supply chain in meeting global human rights standards, trade association SolarPower Europe has said in a new sustainability report.
Polysilicon producer REC Silicon has surprisingly terminated it supply chain partnership with US PV manufacturing start-up Violet Power, claiming it would best serve its shareholders by focusing on doing business with “established, proven, active and relevant solar supply chain partners”.
Leading microinverter supplier Enphase Energy reported record full-year revenue and shipments in 2020, driven by an ongoing transformation in its contract manufacturing supply chain that will enable the company to supply between 16 million to 20 million microinverter units in 2021, should demand allow.
Major ‘Solar Module Super League’ (SMSL) member JinkoSolar has extended its supply chain cooperation with major polysilicon and merchant solar cell manufacturer Tongwei Group, with Tongwei gaining extra gigawatts of mono wafers from JinkoSolar.
Trina Solar has announced that a host of inverters that are compatible with 210mm modules are being launched, a development the company says will streamline the PV supply chain.
While COVID-19 may have dominated headlines internationally this year, 2020 has been a year of considerable progress for the global solar supply chain. Here, the PV Tech editorial team re-cap some of the biggest and most impactful stories of the year.
