Solar trade headwinds
Prices across the solar supply chain remained in bearish territory into the fourth quarter of 2024. Trade and regulatory developments have continued to preoccupy the industry and dampen trading activity.
Trump touts solar trade tariffs
While the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is reshoring solar manufacturing in the United States, raising import tariffs may slow momentum. The actions of the incoming Trump administration are tough to forecast at this point.
Solar manufacturing slows in bid to balance supply and demand
Smaller solar manufacturers have been shuttering production lines, but not at a pace fast enough to return profit margins to healthy territory. InfoLink’s Amy Fang considers what lies ahead for PV companies in the near term.
U.S. doubles solar polysilicon and wafer tariffs on China
Section 301 tariffs on imported solar polysilicon and wafers were increased to 50%.
JinkoSolar sues VSUN for alleged patent infringement
China-based panel maker JinkoSolar says that its competitor VSUN and its related entities in the United States have infringed on one of its patents.
Looming Trump tariffs drive rush on imports, push shipping costs higher
Freight costs are rising as businesses rush to import goods ahead of higher tariffs promised by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Chinese and European products.
Maxeon solar panels shipped from Mexico denied entry to U.S.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection blocked Maxeon products despite “having provided clear and objective evidence” of a compliant supply chain.
Higher inventories weaken demand across global solar module markets
In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.
‘There is no such thing as a global patent’
Jeffrey Saltman, partner at U.S. intellectual property law firm Fisch Sigler LLP, recently spoke to pv magazine about the rising number of patent lawsuits between PV module manufacturers. He said this increase in litigation mainly stems from the industry’s convergence on tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) tech and noted that the number of lawsuits is likely to rise in the near future.
Longi Green Energy sets world record for solar module efficiency at 25.4%
China’s Longi Green Energy has set a new world record for crystalline silicon solar module efficiency with its independently developed hybrid passivated back contact (HPBC) 2.0 module, achieving a conversion efficiency of 25.4%, according to a certification report from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE).
