Manufacturing

Independent PV analyst, Corinne Lin discusses the fallout of China’s recent solar PV policy decision, including decreasing utilization rates and serious oversupply; and a focus on equipment upgrades, particularly for PERC, SE, half cut and bifiacial technologies. The industry will bounce back in 2019, she concludes.

German inverter giant SMA has partnered with Melbourne’s Wilson Transformer Company (WTC) to develop a central inverter solution specifically for Australian utility scale projects. The new Power Skid will be assembled in Australia, with WTC providing the medium and low voltage switchgear – among other componentry.

The Taiwanese analysts expect that overcapacity will force some solar players to abandon their business or file for bankruptcy. IHS Markit also sees further price declines and consolidation in the third quarter, although it does forecast signs of a speedy recovery.

Farms affected by power outages in the McKinlay Shire, north-western Queensland, can now go off grid – through a new solar+storage containerised solution from Germany’s Intech.

The latest figures from the Taiwanese analysts show that prices for monocrystalline solar PV products have fallen sharply in a week-on-week comparison. The price drop for wafer was even stronger.

Many expansion plans are still firmly afoot in the Chinese solar PV manufacturing industry, if the information pv magazine gathered from some of the country’s leading manufacturers at last week’s Smarter E event, are anything to go by. Indeed, Tongwei , Longi, Sunport and BYD are all progressing at full speed with their capacity ramp ups.

Enphase Energy has announced the release of the seventh generation of its microinverters to Australia and New Zealand. The IQ 7 and IQ 7+ replaces the S-Series. It is 47% lighter, offering easier handling on the roof.

Following Monday’s announcement, pv magazine spoke to Lior Handelsman, of SolarEdge. The company VP is adamant Huawei has infringed the Israeli firm’s intellectual property, and says defending IP will see the PV industry grow.

Former manufacturing giant establishes a foothold in the promising Australian market, and says it is in talks with developer Biosar about supplying further modules for projects in the nation.

On the back of the massive supply deal, the Spanish manufacturer has announced it has crossed the 1 GW threshold for photovoltaic inverter shipments to Australia.