Rise of bifacial lifts profits for the world’s tracker companies
Things are hotting up in the tracker world as the desire to squeeze down the price per Watt of solar power intensifies. And the rise of the trackers is attracting some well-known businesses to buy their way into the field.
Siemens wants to take over Kaco
After announcing its entry into residential storage a week ago, the Munich-based multinational has now unveiled a plan to acquire inverter manufacturer Kaco. Siemens has not provided details about the value of the transaction.
Trump trade announcement offers hope of breakthrough
The president last night announced he is hoping to arrange a meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to bring an end to the long-running trade stand-off between the two nations, provided further progress can be made in negotiations.
Sungrow surpasses 1 GW of U.S. inverter contracts for 2019
The Chinese inverter maker expects to more than double its U.S. shipments this year – trade war be damned.
pvMB 2/19/2019: 50 MW in Maine, robotic panel cleaning and more!
Its a sunny Tuesday morning and the days are getting longer! Maui Electric is trying to charge ratepayers for curtailed solar electricity, Nissan is using old batteries in campers and Aerospec sees how BIG a solar farm is.
Even with new capacity investments, Enphase still sold out
Enphase says its inverter lead times are ~13-15 weeks, even with dedicated manufacturing lines for components. Two new long term contracts expect to turn on in Q3 and Q4 ’19, lowering lead times to ~6-8 weeks.
REC Silicon to suspend production at Washington State polysilicon factory
REC Silicon has revealed plans to halt operations at its Moses Lake facility in 17 days’ time. The company says it has taken the decision to maintain liquidity for its semiconductor business with American workers set to pay the price for President Trump’s trade war with China.
pvmb 2/8/19: Aurora gets $20 million, U.S. lithium-ion factory planned, California makes interconnection easier, and more!
In today’s pv magazine USA morning brief we also see Hawaii regulators propose performance based incentives for utility HECO, hundreds of laws changed in 2018 regarding the grid, concerns aired before Congress about supply chains for lithium-ion batteries, and more!
On the floor in picture form at Solar Power Northeast
While the Super Bowl victory parade rolled by, solar energy professionals shook hands, shared stories, made deals and visited more than 80 industry exhibitions on the floor in Boston, Massachusetts.
Single axis trackers go to court
NEXTracker has sued Sunlink for infringing on a patent for a balanced solar tracker clamp, and a separate patent describing the broader support system of a single axis tracker.
