Eastern Europe

Also in the brief: Jacked-up vendor curves, and Major League Soccer goes solar.

The EU-funded Nextbase project aims to manufacture heterojunction, interdigitated back-contact solar modules for less than €0.275/W. Solar panels featuring the Nextbase cell tech are expected to have a conversion efficiency of 23.2%, according to the European Commission.

IEA PVPS report: Global solar demand increased by 12% in 2019 compared to 2018 — but that was BC. According to the report, photovoltaics provided just under 3% of global electricity needs in 2019.

Some 15 countries are able to lay claim to the status of being members of solar’s “gigawatt club” in 2019, according to projections from BloombergNEF. To kick off 2020, pv magazine’s global team of correspondents and editors have highlighted 10 fast-growing solar markets to evaluate where the opportunities, and potential risks, lie.

The Israeli power electronics maker’s revenues and shipments keep rising as it absorbs more companies, but the pending increase in Section 301 tariffs leaves some clouds in the future.

In what has been an explosive start to the year for the company, GameChange Solar has announced deals that could potentially position the company among the top five global tracker suppliers.

The PV module manufacturer started negotiations with Jabil after the United States introduced duties on solar imports. Recom plans to restart manufacturing activities with Jabil’s 700 MW production equipment in the first quarter of 2019. Where exactly this will take place has not been disclosed yet.

The ruling follows on bankruptcy court approval of SQN’s request to sell off its share of Suniva’s tools and assets, in what may be the bitter end of Suniva as a cell maker.

WePower is raising money in hopes of leveraging Bitcoin’s ‘blockchain’ technology to enable instant tracking and trading of clean electricity.

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.