Taiwan

Concurrent with the two-year halt of solar tariffs on major Southeast Asian panels suppliers, the Biden Administration invoked the Defense Production Act and is using the full power of federal procurement capabilities to boost US-made solar.

In 2002, the Fraunhofer ISE patented the HERIC circuit for highly efficient inverters. Since then, the institute says, it has recorded out-of-court settlements in seven patent infringement lawsuits against companies from China, Taiwan and Germany.

Mercedes-Benz has teamed up with ProLogium to integrate solid-state battery technology into a range of vehicles; Panasonic and Toyota launched an industrial-academic collaborative research program concerned with battery resources and recycling; and LG Energy Solution plans to spend $2.1 billion with GM to build another EV battery plant in the US.

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.

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.

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.

A pair of court rulings has shot down challenges by a range of solar manufacturers related to the details of 2014 import duties on solar products from China and Taiwan.

A preliminary finding by the U.S. Department of Commerce could lower import duties first imposed on Taiwan solar cell manufacturers in 2014 from high double-digits to single digits, while tariffs on Chinese module and cell manufacturers imposed at the same time remain in place.

U.S. solar producer SunPower will acquire Taiwan’s AU Optronic’s stake in a cell production facility joint venture the companies entered into in 2010. Under the deal, SunPower will pay $170 million over four years and take complete control of what is describes as “our highest performing solar cell fab.”