News

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.

German battery manufacturer, Tesvolt and EPC Unlimited Energy won the Smarter E award last week, for their innovative off-grid solar plus storage project in WA’s Southwest. The project demonstrates how solar can provide a reliable energy supply without back up from the grid, and why it is set to spread around the world even faster than many predict.

A hugely-ambitious plan to develop a 200 MW PV array and 120 MWh battery system in South Australia has received development approval. The project developer, which is hosted by the University of Adelaide’s ThincLab accelerator, reports that the $450 million project is privately financed with a 60/40 merchant/PPA structure – a significant milestone for the market segment.

As the federal government aims to ink a deal with the states on the National Energy Guarantee in August, it appears still to be negotiating within its own ranks. The ANU’s Mathew Stocks and Andrew Blakers crunch the numbers to assess whether coal or renewables will pay off for costs and jobs in Queensland.

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.

Grimm Power and Xuan Cau began construction on two solar PV plants in the southern province of Tay Ninh.

According to a new report from the PV Market Alliance (PVMA), the global solar PV market will only be marginally affected by the recent China policy decisions, and will grow to become an up to 200 GW market by 2022. Diversification will continue, with new segments accounting for up to 25% of the entire market by this time.

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.