Canadian Solar

The power purchase agreement covers all the energy generated at a 1.2 MW facility in eastern Japan and a 1.9 MW site in the south west of the country.

The Chinese PV industry has benefited from the availability of substantial finance over the past two decades, supporting the development of the renewable, zero-carbon capability essential for meeting the goals of the Paris climate agreement. Easy access to finance has led to unsustainably low prices and unnecessary losses, however, impacting China’s ability to sustain support for renewable energy systems. As the nation expands clean power installations and enhances grid-balancing capacity, maintaining consistent financial support has become more challenging.

The subsidiary of Chinese-Canadian solar manufacturer Canadian Solar says the financing will go towards developing and constructing solar and battery energy storage projects across Spain, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, France and Germany.

Energy storage is the new solar for an increasing number of Chinese PV manufacturers. However, China still requires enabling policies for storage to provide the end-market volumes needed to bolster the fortunes of manufacturers old and new.

The government of the Canadian province of Quebec aims to deploy 300 MW of solar through tenders under utility Hydro-Quebec, in a bid to diversify the supply of renewables.

UK-based Alcemi says it has obtained planning permission for the construction of 1.5 GW of battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in Scotland, developed in partnership with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).

Canadian Solar says it plans to invest $800 million to open a 5 GW solar cell factory in the US state of Indiana.

Canadian Solar is offering six versions of its 132-cell TOPBiHiKu7 solar modules, with power outputs ranging from 675 W to 700 W and efficiencies ranging from 21.7% to 22.5%. They have an efficiency range of 26.1% to 27.0%, with a bifacial gain of 20%.

Wiki-Solar’s latest league table of utility-scale solar project developers shows that only six renewable specialists occupy the top 20 spots.

Frank Haugwitz arrived in China in June 2002 as technical adviser to the solar-focused Sino-German Renewable Energies in Rural Areas Program. He has directly observed the nation’s rise to solar superpower status.