Solar

June 19, 2013
In a further attempt to prop up its besieged solar industry and help its makers clear massive over stock of cheap PV panels, China is encouraging its banks to loosen up their purse strings and power companies to make room for more solar-friendly generation.
June 17, 2013
Chinese solar manufacturer Yingli Green Energy, the world’s largest solar module manufacturer in 2012, has announced a huge deal to develop photovoltaic power plants in Yunnan province, Southeast China, with a combined capacity of 3-GW.
Malaysia's solar biomass choice
June 14, 2013
The Malaysian Government is thinking about revamping the way it allocates feed-in tariff (FiT) to the solar power sector, as applications continue to far outstrip available budget. Under the country’s Renewable Energy Bill the Sustainable Energy Development Authority Malaysia (SEDA) allocates FiT budget – split between biogas, biomass, small hydro and solar photovoltaic – on a first-come, first-served basis, every six months. To fund the FiT Tenaga Nasional, the country’s state-controlled electricity company, charges customers on the Malaysian Peninsular a one percent levy on electricity bills.
June 13, 2013
Taiwan’s Bureau of Energy has raised the country's target for installed solar power capacity from 130-MW to 175-MW for this year, the second time the target has been raised in eight months.
June 10, 2013
German solar manufacturing technology supplier teamtechnik says it has completed solar plants almost with about 600-MW capacity in the cities of Tianjin, Hengshui and Xinxian on behalf of Yingli Solar.
June 06, 2013
Thailand’s Energy Conservation Promotion Fund committee has agreed to invest THB2.147 billion (USD69 million) on renewables including THB1.8 billion for rooftop solar on 2,000 government buildings.
June 05, 2013
Starting from tomorrow the European Union will impose duties of 11.8 percent on imports of Chinese-made solar panels, and those levies will rise to an average of 47.6 percent — and as high as 67.9 percent — in August unless an accord is reached beforehand.
June 05, 2013
The Japanese postal service is planning to install solar panels on 286 post offices to produce 11-MW of energy for resale to national utilities.
June 05, 2013
Japanese government incentives to encourage clean energy following the Fukushima nuclear crisis will see the country succeed Germany as the world’s largest solar market by annual installations this year, ahead of China, according to revised projections from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
May 31, 2013
Japan’s solar installations surged by a stunning 270 percent in the first quarter of 2013, positioning the country to surpass Germany to become the world’s largest photovoltaics (PV) market in terms of revenue this year, according to a new report by IHS research. Although Japan is forecast to install less new solar PV capacity than China (which is forecast to be the largest market in GW installation terms) in 2013, the high prices of PV systems in Japan will drive it to become the world’s largest market in revenue terms.
May 30, 2013
The China Merchants New Energy Group (CMNE) has announced a deal with the city of Xingtai to build 300-MW of solar projects.
May 29, 2013
The New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) in India is looking to turn Rajarhat-New Town into a solar city after mandating that all commercial and residential high rises must install solar rooftop systems to meet at least two per cent of the buildings' electrical load requirement.
May 29, 2013
Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), the public sector company formed last year as the executive arm of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), is looking for partners to build four pilot solar thermal power projects in an apparent bid to increase the solar technology mix under the recently launched JNNSM Phase 2.
Coal India
May 28, 2013
In a surprising diversification move Coal India – the giant state-controlled mining company – has decided to set up solar power projects across the country. The reason for the world’s largest non-renewable energy producer venturing into the renewable sector, is a growing realization that India’s coal reserves are not going to last for long, the company told prospective bidders for solar power equipment contracts.
May 27, 2013
India’s ‘please all parties’ policy is taking the shine off growth in the country’s solar industry as it forgets one key stakeholder – the consumer – with installations flat-lining in 2013, according to a report by clean energy communications and consulting firm Mercom Capital.
Hokkaido solar farm
May 24, 2013
A statement last month from Hokkaido Electric Power Co, which provides electricity to Japan’s northernmost island, that it won’t be able to accommodate more than 400-MW of utility-scale solar-powered generating capacity appears to be having a cooling effect on the industry. SB Energy, the renewable power arm of Softbank Corp, is reported by the Kyoto News agency to be re-evaluating the feasibility of three solar projects in the prefecture with a total planned capacity of 180-MW.
May 21, 2013
China, the US and the EU appear to be looking for common ground in an effort to settle the long-running tit-for-tat dispute over the trade in solar equipment between the world’s largest economies.
May 21, 2013
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will provide low-interest loans to companies that borrow residential rooftop space for solar power generation.
May 20, 2013
China may be on the verge of imposing anti-dumping duties on imports of polysilicon in apparent retaliation for levies the EU is considering and the US has already imposed on Chinese solar exporters. According to a Bloomberg report, quoting anonymous sources, China’s Ministry of Commerce has completed probes that determined the US and EU are subsidizing producers of polysilicon and that imports of the commodity harmed its domestic companies.
May 20, 2013
The Japan Asia Group is reportedly preparing to roll out 500-MW of solar projects in Japan as it considers reducing its European operations, according to Bloomberg.