Germany solar panel manufacturer SolarWorld has enjoyed two months of near-record module shipment volumes, according to the companys CEO, Frank Asbeck.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Asbeck remarked that SolarWorld delivered the most solar modules in its history in July, and is confident that a similar volume is on the cards for August. Looking ahead, the company hopes to continue shipping at similarly high levels for at least the next 18 months, Asbeck said. Earlier this month, the company confirmed that more than 90 MW of modules were sold worldwide in July.
"The demand for solar modules is rising massively around the world," he told Bloomberg. "Module prices have stabilized in the first two quarters and may rise this year." According to the CEO, SolarWorld is now running at the "border of its capacity" at each of its existing plants.
The company's performance is an encouraging upturn in fortunes. As Germany's biggest solar panel manufacturer, SolarWorld was influential in sparking the China-U.S. solar trade war in 2012 in response to its claims of module dumping from state-backed Chinese companies into the U.S. and European markets.
The fallout from the original trade dispute lingers today, and SolarWorld confirmed to Bloomberg that it is content to open talks on a potential settlement with China, but added: "Such an agreement would have to ensure that there are no monopolies resulting from price dumping". Asbeck called for a "democratic energy source that is available to everyone".
Last month, the company warned that it may not hit its sales target for the year, despite achieving 53% first-half growth year-on-year, selling 357 MW of modules during that period.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.