Manufacturing

GCL System Integration plans to build a 60 GW solar module factory in China’s Anhui province, with a total investment of approximately $2.5 billion.

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.

Tesla’s Nevada operation is still open for business. The EV and battery maker assures the market that its cash position is strong enough to weather an “extended period of uncertainty.”

Also in the brief: financing for a massive Texas project, distributed portfolio expansion in the DMV, Duke waives fees amid COVID crisis and more.

Thin-film solar startup PI Energy didn’t disclose the photovoltaic materials system it’s been commercializing, other than to say that it wasn’t CIGS, CdTe, or perovskites.

Analyst Wood Mackenzie expects solar demand to decline but predicts the market will recover, with the prospects for the energy transition remaining intact.

Also in the brief: 14 MW approved in Maine, 20 MW approved in Indiana, a molten aluminum thermal energy storage system and more.

Although every box of shingles we examined came from Changzhou, China, not the factory in New York.

Also in the brief: Enphase ships storage; homeless encampments using secondhand solar; big batteries.

Many solar factories in China are starting to resume production, suggesting that concerns about supplies of PV components could soon begin to ease. Nevertheless, the temporary standstill will have an impact on the global solar market, as the implementation of some projects will probably be postponed until next year.