Manufacturing

JinkoSolar is ramping the third-largest module factory in the United States, as part of a resurgence in U.S. module manufacturing.

The U.S. wafer maker and the Korean module manufacturer expect to ramp the Malaysian factory no later than September. The fab is next to Hanwha’s existing cell and module facilities and 1366 Technologies plans to produce its Direct Wafers on a gigawatt scale for less than $0.20 per piece.

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.

Good morning – it’s Friday! In today’s pvMB we will also bring you more regulatory capture in New Orleans, NREL’s new database for albedo, and a study that looks at the idea locations for EV chargers in Michigan.

The thin film PV maker reported solid year-end 2018 results, with future bookings extending out four years and the fourth of five Series 6 factories already online.

The Chinese inverter maker expects to more than double its U.S. shipments this year – trade war be damned.

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.

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 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.

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!