News

Longi Solar will set up a 1 GW solar PV manufacturing facility in India’s Andhra Pradesh. It will manufacture 500 MW of cells and 500 MW of modules, a spokesperson tells pv magazine. The facility is expected to be commissioned by Q1 2019 at the latest, and will seek to take advantage of India’s exemption from the recent U.S. solar tariffs, imposed by President Trump last week.

It is the blackout, and fallout, that many were anticipating. The heatwave and power outages yesterday and today in Melbourne has brought with it politicking over the cause.

Last week, the chimney from one of the last coal fired power plants in South Australia was felled. The demolition, captured in the footage below, came only days after Jay Weatherill attended the opening of the state’s first utility scale solar array in the region.

Chinese PV manufacturer Jinergy announced last week that it was the supplier of South Australia’s first utility scale PV array, the 6 MW Whyalla Solar Power Plant. The manufacturer shipped monocrystalline PERC modules for the project.

Australia’s fast-growing renewable sector is driving job creation. The latest analysis from Green Energy Markets reveals that almost 15,700 people were employed in large scale renewable development in Australia in December 2017, with a further 5,477 full-time jobs in rooftop solar.

Australian PV project developers and rooftop installers are unlikely to benefit from module price declines as a result of U.S. solar tariffs. GTM Research analysis reveals that while the tariffs will likely cause an American solar market decline of 11% in 2018, it will not leave Chinese suppliers scrambling to find buyers.

New South Wales’ largest large scale solar project has reached financial close, with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) stepping in to provide debt finance for the project. The two organisations have now worked together to develop 260 MW of renewables in regional NSW.

Clean Energy Regulator data reveal that a stellar 2017 has set the Australian renewable sector up to meet 2020 Renewable Energy Target (RET). Large scale solar accounts for 46% of the “firmly announced” projects since 2016.

Another big utility scale project solar project has taken a step forward in Queensland. The Munna Creek Solar Farm, which is the only project currently being proposed by REST Energy, was approved this week and welcomed by local Mayor as “fantastic news”.

The decision, released on U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer’s website, could keep current U.S. module manufacturers in business by keeping their cell lifelines open.