Minister says country will ‘not give up’ on green energy ambitions despite pandemic, with deadlines eased as tender contracts are awarded to ground-mount PV and others.
Taking a more pessimistic view of the impact of COVID-19 on the end-market demand for solar installations in 2020, IHS Markit expects global installs to decline 16% to 105GW in 2020, compared to around 125GW in 2019.
‘Solar Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Trina Solar expects its recently introduced high-performance ‘Duomax V’ bifacial double-glass panel and ‘Tallmax V’ (backsheet) series panel nameplate capacity to reach around 5.5GW by the end of 2020.
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has warned that support is needed for approximately 250,000 people that directly work in the US solar industry as COVID-19 could impact as much as 50% of the sector.
German energy firm EnBW is set to build a 187MW solar power plant northeast of Berlin in Werneuchen, Brandenburg that is planned to operate for 40 years.
‘Solar Module Super League’ (SMSL) member, LONGi Solar is to supply its Hi-MO 4 modules with the new M6 (166mm x 166mm) wafers to a 65MW PV power plant in Japan.
The ‘Retrofit AR’ coating, an offspring of DSM’s industry-leading anti-reflective (AR) coatings, gives older, uncoated solar modules an instant energy boost of up to 3%, according to lab and field tests. For power plants built before 2012, it is an especially attractive way to increase yield while keeping feed-in tariffs high and boosting internal rate of return (IRR), compared to panel replacement programs.
Market research firm IHS Markit believes the PV inverter replacement market will increase by around 40% in 2020, creating an 8.7GW need outside new global installations.
Taiwan has extended PV power project completion dates on component shortages caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in China, while India is expected to advise policy changes soon.
