China

Huanghe Hydropower Development has connected a 2.2 GW solar plant to the grid in the desert in China’s remote Qinghai province. The project is backed by 202.8 MW/MWh of storage.

Also in the brief: China claims world’s largest solar ‘rooftop’ at 200 MW. And Midwest energy companies pledge to build nation’s largest interstate electric vehicle charging network.

Also in the brief: Re-retiring Maui’s 72-year-old, 38-MW oil-fired plant — by adding more solar-plus-storage. Colorado Springs Utilities plans for a 175-MW solar farm to be coupled with a 25 MW battery storage system, all built and installed by Boulder-based juwi.

More than 1 GW of subsidized small solar arrays were installed in China last month alone and manufacturer Suntech has announced the start of operations at its 500 MW Indonesian cell and module fab.

Why is an essentially bankrupt Chinese solar company that had already furloughed most of its staff receiving $5 to $10 million from the U.S. treasury?

The Chinese manufacturer introduced new PV modules this weekend at the SNEC solar exhibition in Shanghai.

Huawei said the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court in China has ruled in its favor in a patent dispute with its Israeli rival.

The mechanisms behind light-elevated temperature-induced degradation are still not fully understood, but it is known to cause significant performance losses for modules in the field. Scientists in China are investigating the causes of the phenomenon, and are currently focused on the surface of the materials and the interfaces between the silicon and passivation layers.

Despite strong revenue growth in the U.S., the racking company is abandoning its U.S. manufacturing (and rhetoric) to “create a globally diversified supply chain.” Quick Mount was acquired by Netherlands-based Esdec last year in a roll-up of U.S. racking companies.

Group spinoff Maxeon Solar Technologies will produce the new Performance 5 modules with bifacial mono-PERC solar cells, made from large format eight-inch G12 wafers. The panels boast an efficiency of 21.2%.