Legal

German company Glasmanufaktur Brandenburg and the European Commission claimed victory in the latest stage of a case which hinges on whether Chinese business Xinyi PV operates as a free-market manufacturer. The suit has been running since May 2014 and no immediate conclusion appears to be in sight.

An investigation into the financier which promised to lend the polysilicon company’s solar project development arm $60 million two years ago, has turned up nothing more than an address in St Kitts and Nevis and allegations of fraud against one of its key personnel.

Polysilicon capacity is unable to catch up with rapid capacity expansion in the mid and downstream segments, writes Corrine Lin, chief analyst for PV InfoLink. New polysilicon capacity requires big capex investment and a lead time of more than two years to complete construction and reach full operation. With unbalanced capacity between the upstream and downstream segments, polysilicon prices have been rising since the second half of 2020, with prices for mono-grade polysilicon surpassing CNY 200/kg ($27.40) in June 2021, up more than 250% year on year.

Newcomer Symbio Energy has been told it must hand over £450,000 it owes to the FIT program which reimburses small scale renewable energy generators. The payment is already a week overdue.

JinkoSolar did not infringe a patent asserted by Hanwha Q CELLS according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which affirmed an International Trade Commission finding from 2020.

In handing down $2.5 million in fines, Victoria’s Essential Services Commission chair Kate Symon said it was the strongest action taken against an energy company, whose representatives engaged in fraudulent activity.

Meyer Burger claims machines to produce perovskite tandem solar cells are still missing at Oxford PV’s manufacturing plant in Germany’s Brandenburg an der Havel. Despite this, Oxford PV terminated the cooperation with the turnkey machine supplier in a surprise move last week. The Swiss technology group, which now produces its own heterojunction solar cells and modules in Germany, is now considering legal action.

Responding to a petition seeking an order to protect vulnerable wildlife habitats, the High Court of Bangladesh has told policymakers in Dhaka to draw up a plan for 100% clean energy.

Korean solar manufacturer Hanwha Q Cells has told pv magazine a Dutch court which gave it permission to seize a shipment of solar products made by Chinese rival Longi Solar at the warehouse of a storage keeper last month, has confirmed Longi can reclaim the PV products upon proof they will not be distributed in European markets where a Hanwha technology patent applies.

The Chinese solar glass maker, which claimed a positive legal judgement in the European General Court in 2019, is now likely to have that victory set aside by the European Court of Justice, with an advocate-general saying the company benefited from an income tax regime which may have unfairly distorted its operations.