Max Hall
Northvolt raises $600 million for lithium battery gigafactory from VW and Spotify cofounder
The European battery manufacturer has raised the funds with a private shares placement which included the co-founder and CEO of music streaming service Spotify.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: 1 GW of distributed solar came online in August
More than 1 GW of subsidized small solar arrays were installed in China last month alone and manufacturer Suntech has announced the start of operations at its 500 MW Indonesian cell and module fab.
Breaking: Explosions at GCL polysilicon fab have reportedly taken down 10% of global production capacity
California-based investment banking group Roth Capital Partners has reported four flash explosions on Sunday and a fifth yesterday “working their way through the GCL facility across multiple systems in a chain-reaction-like sequence.”
Analyst expects ‘unprecedented’ consolidation of Chinese solar industry
Private PV manufacturers and project developers alike are set to be squeezed out by the state in the world’s biggest solar market, according to Frank Haugwitz, who has compiled a wide-ranging report as preparations for the next five-year plan gather pace.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: 3.95 GW of new PV in Q1, new 500 W-plus modules, a panel with 23.2% efficiency
China’s cumulative installed PV capacity topped 208 GW at the end of March, thanks to 3.95 GW of new projects completed in the first quarter. JinkoSolar and Longi both joined the 500 W-plus module race, with their new panels offering 580 W and 530 W of output, respectively. Ginlong, meanwhile, has revealed plans to raise funds to increase its annual inverter production capacity to 20 GW, and Xi’An Solar has claimed a 23.2% efficiency rate for its N-type TOPCon modules in mass production.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: Financials, a new GW-scale factory, and big hydrogen
Longi and Sungrow both announced solid financial results last week. Module maker China Solar delayed the resumption of trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, and polysilicon producer GCL-Poly unveiled plans to raise up to $16.8 million by issuing shares. Coal miner Baofeng Energy, meanwhile, announced the construction of what it claims will be the world’s largest PV-powered hydrogen plant, and Seraphim and Lu’An Solar revealed that they will open a 5 GW PV panel factory in China’s Jiangsu province.
First Solar manufacturing unaffected by Covid-19 measures
The U.S. thin-film solar company says its production lines in Ohio, Malaysia and Vietnam have thus far been able to carry on operations. The company says measures have been taken to protect its workers at all of its premises.
Avalon and redT unite in $70 million merger of vanadium redox flow battery startups
Two vanadium redox startups join to take on the $0 billion flow-battery market.
Beijing to develop 500 MW of solar in Uganda
State-owned China Energy Engineering said the PV capacity will be developed in two phases in a deal worth $500 million.
The world will add 142 GW of new solar this year
IHS Markit has predicted another year of global solar growth but there’s some uncertainty dogging the markets of China and India, two of the most crucial (and polluting) regions.
