Asia

Mining company Neometals and Manikaran Power have started a jointly funded study into the feasibility of establishing India’s first lithium refinery, which would process ore from the Mount Marion mine in Western Australia.

The Chinese manufacturer revealed it had supplied the modules to one of the largest PV facilities in the APAC region outside its homeland.

A study of the relative costs of generation using coal and PV has focused on Vietnam as a case study as the nation is dependent on costly imports of seaborne coal. Analysts paint a straightforward picture explaining why a planned 32 GW new coal pipeline should be shelved.

Australian-Chinese renewables developer Maoneng and Chinese module maker and EPC contractor Chint have come together to develop a series of utility-scale solar projects in Australia.

In the petition, the manufacturers claim their Korean rival’s patent assertions should be declared invalid as there is evidence the innovations they refer to were either not new or were obvious steps forward.

JinkoSolar today announced that it has set a new efficiency record for a monocrystalline PERC PV cell at 24.38%, and produced a module that achieved 469.3 W power in testing conducted by TÜV Rheinland. The Chinese module manufacturer also equalled a record claimed just last week by Trina Solar, of 24.58% conversion efficiency for an n-type monocrystalline cell.

The Chinese electrical equipment giant will build the first project of Simec Energy Australia’s landmark US$1 billion, 1GW dispatchable renewable energy program in South Australia.

The race is on to process applications for central payments across the world’s biggest solar market, particularly as qualifying projects must reportedly be grid connected this year. The final electricity price will be a major competitive factor considered by the Beijing authorities.

While the world’s biggest solar manufacturers are confident there are plenty of alternative markets for a rising volume of panel exports, the message spelled out by first-quarter shipment figures is that protectionism works.

Renewable energy investment in the APAC region, excluding China, will overtake spending on oil and gas exploration and production spending by 2020, finds Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy. And Australia is set to emerge as one of the leading investment destinations.