Asia

American solar manufacturing: President Trump’s relatively measured 201 ruling surprised many. And while there are already reports of new hiring and expansions by U.S. module makers, the new tariffs will not be enough for a major revival of the sector.

GCL, Canadian and First Solar are reporting the largest project pipelines in GTM Research’s ranking of global developers, however it is unclear how Section 201 duties will affect Canadian Solar as well as No. 4 developer SunPower.

Due largely to write-downs the high-efficiency PV maker lost a whopping $750 million during Q4 2017, as it sells off assets.

The U.S. government’s lender for U.S. interests operating in developing markets increased clean energy financing in 2017, despite the arrival of the Trump Administration and an ongoing investigation.

Following the introduction of 30% graduated tariffs on U.S. imports of solar cells and modules, the European Union and China have joined South Korea and Taiwan in filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization.

The latest analysis by current and former GTM Research executives argues that there is insufficient economic reason to manufacture solar in the United States.

Taiwan has filed a complaint with the WTO over the Trump Administration’s decision to impose safeguard tariffs of up to 30% on crystalline silicon solar cell and module imports.

Longi Solar’s planned PV fab in Andhra Pradesh will manufacture 500 MW of cells and 500 MW of modules. The facility will seek to take advantage of India’s partial exemption from the recent U.S. solar tariffs under Section 201.

An academic event held last week in the U.K. presenting the results of two major research projects on energy storage provided an update on the current and future directions of battery storage technology and development.

The newly minted merger of Neo Solar Power, Gintech and Solartech is planning a module factory, the second such factory to be announced by a large Asian PV maker since tariffs were finalized.