Welcome back to another busy week! This time, we are covering Hanwha Q Cell’s victory over JinkoSolar in Germany, the post-COVID-19 market outlook of electric vehicles and Huawei’s launch of new products, and many more!
Image by torstensimon from Pixabay
Your Monday Briefings is now divided into 2 sections:
- The 1st section has all the solar news related to COVID-19
- The 2nd section has the solar news which has little to do with the pandemic.
If you want to read news unrelated to the coronavirus, you can simply scroll down to the 2nd section of the article.
SECTION 1: COVID-19 WATCH
European Union
On June 17, EIT InnoEnergy, a renewables innovation group supported by EU, has announced that it is partnering up with Skellefteå Kraft, a municipality-owned power company in Skellefteå, Sweden, to launch an accelerator program to drive innovation in Northern Sweden.
As part of a green economic recovery program for COVID-19, this program will provide applicants from Europe to grow their renewables business in Sweden.
The deadline for submitting the application is August 23. Successful applicants can enjoy a three-month tailored program and get access to a broad range of services, such as supply chain development, business validation, revenue and pricing models, and technology and industrialization support.
Source: EIT InnoEnergy
PetersenDean
PetersenDean has filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 in the U.S., citing pandemic as the reason for the company’s less than stellar performance.
However, according to Greentech Media (GTM), PetersenDean has been struggling in recent years, despite remaining as one of the market leaders in California and Hawaii.
Source: TaiyangNews
EV Market Outlook
International Energy Agency has predicted in the Global EV Outlook 2020 report that pandemic could impact e-mobility and the environment in one of the two ways
- Policymakers would limit the use of vehicles, because lockdown induced cleaner air and sky.
- Consumers would be less inclined to ride public transport due to the pandemic and favor the use of private vehicles, while the governments reduce the subsidies for electric vehicles to free up more funding for post-pandemic economic rescue packages.
Source: pv magazine
Solar Energy Industry Outlook
Trade body SolarPower Europe has released the latest edition of Global Market Outlook report. According to the publication, due to the sluggish demand, disruptions across the entire supply chain and constraints of the available labor, the COVID-19 will set back the new solar installation by 4% in 2020.
It predicts that the world will add 112 GW new solar, rather than 144 GW this year.
Source: pv magazine
SECTION 2-1: NON-COVID-19 Regional Market News
And for those of you who are sick of COVID-19 news, here are the news that are not (entirely) related to COVID-19.
Tunisia
Tunisia has announced the results of its 70 MW solar tender from July 2019. The successful bids ranged between US$0.04385 (TND 0.1253922) and US$0.04545 (TND 0.1299736). The lowest successful bid stood at US$0.04385 (TND 0.12539), which was offered by Ecodelta.
Source: TaiyangNews
Thailand
Thailand's largest floating PV power plant of 12.5 MW went online on June 16.
This is the very first large-scale floating photovoltaic power plant in the country. The completion of the project is of great significance to the development of local renewable energy.
Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region
The Hami Municipal Government issued the "Hami’s Master Plan of New Integrated Energy Base (2020-2030)". This includes an environmental impact assessment, which indicated that it plans to build a new integrated energy base in Balikun County and Yiwu County in Hami City.
The base will occupy an area of about 28,000 square kilometers and include ten energy fields, including two photovoltaic fields and two concentrated solar power fields.
Italy
Responding to the request of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, the Italian government agrees to cancel the approval given to the 2 PV projects in 2019. The projects were going to be built in the Tuscia region in Viberbo province of Lazio.
India
India’s state government of Andhra Pradesh has approved the investment and construction of the 10 GW photovoltaic power plant, which will satisfy the energy demand of agriculture.
SECTION 2-2: NON-COVID-19 Company News
Meyer Burger
The world-renowned PV production equipment supplier Meyer Burger plans the expansion to photovoltaic cell and module manufacturing.
The company’s standing cooperation with REC will be discontinued, citing REC’s inability to satisfy REC’s expectation stated in the mutual declaration of intent.
The Swiss tech giant expects to start the production in 2021H1, which will be achieved through procurement of existing manufacturing facilities and sales organization. It would like to produce 400 MW annually. By 2022, the manufacturing capacity should be up to 1.4 GW of PV cells, and 800 MW of PV modules.
Source: pv magazine
Huawei
Huawei has unveiled several new products at the industry’s first global Smart PV Virtual show:
Commercial Inverters
The inverter SUN2000-30/36/40KTL-M3 is more efficient and compact, with the security level upgraded to IP66 and industry-leading AFCI technology.
SUN2000-30/36/40KTL-M3 is capable of identifying arc features of 200-meter cable in commercial projects, which makes it more secure and precise.
Residential
The new residential products are SUN2000-2-6KTL-L1 (Single Phase) and the second generation of optimizer SUN2000-450W-P with higher efficiency and better performance.
These new additions to Huawei’s line of products are fit with AI technologies, which enables the self-learning of their AFCI feature. This feature of self-learning draws valuable insights from the database of millions of arcs’ features, improving the safety of these products.
Utility
The FusionSolar 6.0+ Utility Smart PV Solution is equipped with crucial AI Boost features, such as Smart Tracker Control Algorithm, Smart I-V Curve Diagnosis 4.0 and Smart Grid-connection Algorithm. These AI Technologies will help users to reach grid parity and optimize LCOE.
Source: Huawei
Hanwha Q-Cells
Hanwha Q Cells emerged victorious in the ruling of the Düsseldorf Regional Court, which confirmed that the company’s Chinese competitors JinkoSolar, LONGi and REC have adopted the patented solar cell passivation technology illegally. The judges granted the Korean manufacturer an injunction. Therefore the three defendants will have to recall all the patent-infringing products distributed in Germany since late January 2019.
JA Solar
Chinese PV conglomerate JA Solar has recently signed a cooperation agreement with Mexican solar photovoltaic product distributor Exel Solar.
Per the agreement, the two companies will reinforce their cooperation in strengthening the product distribution and bring more quality solar modules to the people in Mexico, hence making the energy mix in Mexico greener and cleaner.
