Sunrise brief: Maxeon will ramp up solar shingle module production, scout U.S. site
Also on the rise: Canadian Solar starts work on $230 million worth of solar projects in Japan, and the Canadian government backs efforts to move Arctic communities off of diesel and onto renewables.
Sunrise brief: GOP bill aims to ban federal funds to buy solar equipment made in China
Also on the rise: Concentric Power builds a microgrid, research pegs smoke’s impact on 2020 solar output, SolRiver buys a Carolinas development portfolio, jobs growth could signal good times for solar installations, and Plug Power plans another green hydrogen plant.
Making ultra low-carbon solar the global standard to decarbonize the PV industry’s supply chain
We need to transform the end-to-end global supply chain for solar to be a truly clean energy source, writes Michael Parr. He says this will take a strong signal from corporate buyers and policy makers.
First Solar signals interest in new U.S. supply of tellurium for its solar panel production
Mining group Rio Tinto said it will spend nearly $3 million on a facility in Utah to recover tellurium, a critical mineral used in solar panels.
Creating an alternative PV supply chain is no cakewalk
The SEIA in late 2020 launched a campaign against forced labor and said it was “strongly encouraging” member companies to adjust their supply chains by June. Here is what will likely happen.
Sunrise brief: Senate bill eyes $8bn in tax credits to boost clean energy jobs
Also on the rise: EDF Renewables signs a PPA for its Space City Solar project in Texas, Nextracker wins a supply order for a big South American project, and a polysilicon producer signs a three-year deal for 41,000 MT.
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.
‘The strategy is to go big.’ A conversation with SEIA’s Abigail Ross Hopper
In a wide-ranging interview, Ross Hopper discussed supply chain challenges, the hope for federal policy certainty, workforce diversity, and the need to act “with boldness and vision.”
Spare capacity exists to support a supply chain shift, industry group says
Michael Parr of the Ultra Low-Carbon Solar Alliance said that excess production capacity in the U.S. and EU could support a call for a supply chain shift.
Solar companies pledge to oppose forced labor in the supply chain
The pledge is part of an industry-wide effort led by the Solar Energy Industries Association that supports the development of a supply chain traceability protocol.
