Norway-headquartered integrated PV module manufacturer REC Group has been officially approved to be able to bid on solar supply tenders in France, organised by the government after receiving the required low carbon footprint certification by French module testing and certification body, CERTISOLIS.
Updated: The US solar trade body, Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) said it would spearhead the campaign against the trade petition by US-based bankrupt cell and module manufacturer, Suniva with the USITC (United States International Trade Commission) that threatens import duties on all crystalline solar cells and panels imported from anywhere across the world not produced in the US.
The seasonally soft first quarter of the year for the residential solar rooftop market in the US played out again in 2017, with the addition of much heavier rainfall, notably in California. A basket of primarily US residential installers that are publically listed have recently reported first quarter results.
US-headquartered high-efficiency PV module producer SunPower reported a first quarter 2017 net GAAP loss of US$134.5 million, while guiding further losses of between $110 million to $135 million for the second quarter of the year as the company transitions its business model.
Mono c-Si cell production is forecast to account for 49% of all c-Si cell production in 2018, and will become the dominant technology used in the PV industry by 2019, according to new research contained in the latest release of the PV Manufacturing & Technology Quarterly report, from the in-house research unit at PV-Tech’s parent company Solar Media Ltd.
PV Tech’s preliminary analysis of global solar PV manufacturing capacity expansion announcements in the first quarter of 2017, show a strong rebound compared to the significantly subdued environment experienced in the second half of 2016.
Leading thin-film PV manufacturer First Solar has said it wants to sell its share in its joint venture (JV) yieldco with SunPower to free-up funds to support its switch to manufacturing its large-area Series 6 CdTe modules.
High-efficiency monocrystalline wafer producer Comtec Solar Systems Group reported a net loss of US$146 million in 2016, after previously announced write-down on assets at its Malaysian manufacturing facilities that were being sold leading mono wafer supplier, LONGi Green Energy Technology.
Major flat panel display manufacturer AU Optronics Corp reported a significant reduction in its solar business unit’s losses in 2016, after receiving a US$170.1 million cash payout from SunPower to exit its joint venture (JV) manufacturing operations in Malaysia, last September.
Vertically integrated PV power plant developers such as First Solar and SunPower are losing ground to dedicated PV tracker firms, according to the latest analysis from IHS Markit.
US-headquartered high-efficiency PV module producer SunPower has officially signed a new joint venture partnership in China to produce both solar cells and modules for its P-Series technology.
High-efficiency PV module producer and project developer SunPower has reached a production average cell conversion efficiency of 25% at its Fab 4 facility in the Philippines, the highest in the industry.
8Point3 Energy Partners the yieldco of First Solar and SunPower said it did not plan to acquire further PV power plant projects from its parent companies in the first half of 2017, after recent acquisitions that took its portfolio to 942MW.
The recent announcements from Silicon Module Super League (SMSL) manufacturer LONGi Silicon Materials, to acquire the Malaysia wafering operations of Comtec Solar Systems Group and to align with Trina Solar and Tongwei for a new 5GW factory in China, represent yet more substance to LONGi’s active push to shift the industry to mono c-Si cell and module supply.
