Max Hall
EU member states to spend €18bn of Covid cash on renewables
The 22 nations which have had their “recovery and resilience” spending plans approved by the European Commission are set to devote billions to clean energy facilities, with the cash set to be disbursed in three payments to the end of next year.
Philippine irrigation body offers up sites for floating solar
With senators having called for plantation-wide solar powered pumping projects, funded by public money, the country’s National Irrigation Administration has agreed and said it wants to embrace floating solar facilities too.
Ukrainian energy company restarts grid generation from its solar parks
Clean energy facilities have been ordered offline in the nation since Thursday as the national grid ran an exercise to establish how it would function in isolation from the power networks of Russia and Belarus.
Zinc miner goes solar as African Development Bank pushes off-grid finance
A business based at a Namibian mine has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement which will back the construction of a 5.4MW solar project. Elsewhere, the AfDB wants to roll-out solar panels to provide electricity access to six million people across six nations over the next six years.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: Daqo could make 125,000 tons of poly this year
Also, heterojunction module manufacturer Huasun has begun assembling production lines at its new 2GW factory and Trina Solar has agreed to buy 290 million wafers from Beijing Jingyuntong Technology.
Impressive numbers for Chinese solar panel glassmaker
Xinyi Solar has proposed a dividend for the second year running as it announced shareholders would bank net profits of $630 million despite rising materials and shipping costs last year.
‘The major solar players will shift from PERC to TOPCon’
US analyst Clean Energy Associates made some notable predictions in its Q4 survey of the world solar manufacturing market, including echoing predictions made elsewhere that the new polysilicon production capacity coming online now will help arrest the spike in solar panel prices.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: Shangji Automation expands polysilicon capacity by 100,000 MT
In other news, Longi announced it further raised wafer prices and the China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA) said the Chinese PV market may reach a size of up to 90 GW in 2022.
European Commission moves on battery skills and forced labor
The EU’s executive body will supply €10 million to the European Battery Academy program launched in Brussels yesterday which aims to train the 800,000 battery workforce it has been estimated will be required in three years’ time.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: Soaring profits for Trina and Shuangliang
Panel maker Trina Solar and wafer manufacturing compatriot Shuangliang Eco-Energy have announced bumper profits from last year as polysilicon producer GCL ponders a rebrand.
