Analysis conducted by PV Tech has concluded that the total global solar PV manufacturing capacity expansion plans for the first quarter of 2015 topped 22 GW. Solar PV supply chain news and analysis website PV Tech published its latest preliminary analysis of the industry’s first quarter manufacturing capacity expansion announcements this … [continued]
Solar PV manufacturing capacity expansion announcements topped 55 GW in 2015, according to new analysis from PV Tech. According to Mark Osborne, Senior News Editor at PV Tech, PV manufacturing capacity expansion announcements in 2015 more than doubled, from 21 GW in 2014 to 55.19 GW in 2015. However, as … [continued]
Solar industry manufacturing consortium PVMC and NREL aim to help reduce the installed cost of thin-film CIGS solar PV by 75%, an effort that falls right in line with targets set out in PVMC’s thin-film PV industry roadmap and President Obama’s SunShot Initiative.
Ups and downs notwithstanding, First Solar has forged itself into the world’s leading manufacturer of thin-film Cd-Te solar PV cells and modules. Management took time out recently to recognize the contributions of its supply chain partners in meeting its business goals in a manner consistent with its broader set of values and ethics. […]
Solar PV manufacturing and overall costs continue to fall sharply, but that’s being overlooked as the media focuses on solar trade wars, price wars, scandals and insolvencies.
One of China’s largest and leading integrated silicon solar PV manufacturers, Trina Solar’s opening a sales and business development office and launching a local supply chain manufacturing partnership in Ontario, the focal point for solar energy in Canada. […]
Vestas’ sale of its Varda wind tower factory to China’s Titan Wind Energy is to save Danish green jobs and confer numerous benefits for both companies. It’s also clear evidence of the effectiveness and success of China’s industrial policy drive to dominate wind and solar PV manufacturing worldwide, one that’s “hollowing out” U.S. and E.U. manufacturing well before they’ve had the chance to mature. […]
Research and analysis of solar PV manufacturing costs and international trade flows shows that Chinese silicon solar PV manufacturers have only a slight cost advantage on their US counterparts, and that excludes transportation costs, the effect of inflation rate differentials and other factors.
Furthermore, the extraordinary rise in Chinese exports of silicon solar PV cells and panels to the US could only be sustained with the support of massive government subsidies.
International trade tensions are rising and taking on increasing significance and urgency all the way up to national and international policy levels, as illustrated by Pres. Obama announcing the creation of an international trade investigations task force in his State of the Union address Tuesday evening. Clean Technica interviewed a senior solar energy industry executive and board member of the Coalition of Affordable Solar (CASE) to better understand its opposition to international trade petitions filed against China’s subsidizing and export of silicon solar PV cells and modules currently under investigation by the Commerce Dept. and International Trade Commission.
The focus of Part II of this series was to begin to establish what, exactly, is legal and what’s illegal when it comes to subsidies and manufacturing in the context of international trade law and CASM’s international trade petitions against China. That continues here in Part III, in which some of … [continued]
