China adds export restrictions for minerals used in thin-film solar
Restriction on cadmium telluride exports is expected to increase costs for U.S.-based thin-film solar manufacturer First Solar.
State Grid of China unveils plans for 100GW battery fleet
China’s largest state-owned grid operator and power utility plans to deploy the world’s biggest battery fleet and almost quadruple its pumped hydro storage by 2030, thus supporting the nation’s switch to renewable energy sources.
China’s cheap electricity crowds out foreign polysilicon
Imports from South Korea and the U.S. dwindled, year-on-year, ensuring Germany’s Wacker and the Malysian unit of Korean company OCI will supply the bulk of the world’s non-Chinese solar polysilicon this year.
Morning Brief: Trump admin disappears NREL ‘seams’ study and a 250-ton Chinese transformer
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.
Morning Brief: EV startup Nikola CEO out after SEC fraud claims, China mulls stronger clean energy goals
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.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: 1 GW of distributed solar came online in August
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.
Breaking: Explosions at GCL polysilicon fab have reportedly taken down 10% of global production capacity
California-based investment banking group Roth Capital Partners has reported four flash explosions on Sunday and a fifth yesterday “working their way through the GCL facility across multiple systems in a chain-reaction-like sequence.”
Global demise of coal-fired generation driven by idle and unprofitable plants
China grapples with overcapacity by slowing coal plant construction while more U.S. plants have closed during the first three years of the Trump administration than in Obama’s two terms.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: 3.95 GW of new PV in Q1, new 500 W-plus modules, a panel with 23.2% efficiency
China’s cumulative installed PV capacity topped 208 GW at the end of March, thanks to 3.95 GW of new projects completed in the first quarter. JinkoSolar and Longi both joined the 500 W-plus module race, with their new panels offering 580 W and 530 W of output, respectively. Ginlong, meanwhile, has revealed plans to raise funds to increase its annual inverter production capacity to 20 GW, and Xi’An Solar has claimed a 23.2% efficiency rate for its N-type TOPCon modules in mass production.
Morning Brief: massive PacifiCorp renewable energy RFP excites developers, China’s energy storage boom falters
Also in the brief: First Solar will supply Geronimo Energy with 415 MW of Series 6 modules, a D.C. circuit court hears about a vital FERC energy storage order, the Midwest Solar Expo will not be postponed and more.
