China

Xinyi Solar has posted bullish annual figures on the back of an astonishing rebound in the global market following Covid travails at the start of 2020. There is one national market, however, which has not been invited to the party.

A new Wood Mackenzie report suggests that costs for front-of-the-meter battery storage systems in the Asia-Pacific region could fall by 30% by 2025. The declining costs are already having a palpable impact, as 2021 has opened with a slew of large-scale battery project announcements.

The Chinese manufacturer, which has a central and string inverter factory in Bengaluru, sold a minimum 3 GW of the cumulative sales last year alone. Going forward, it has a strong order book for the upcoming solar capacity too.

The nation has earned the highest score of 62.7 in terms of attractiveness for solar PV investment and deployment in the latest ranking of top 40 countries by Ernst & Young.

The analyst said currently, India and Australia are the only Asia Pacific countries where renewable power already costs lower than new-build coal. It predicted the trend would spread to the entire region by the end of the decade, while India and Australia would see renewables becoming further cheaper than coal.

The U.S. president issued a proclamation on Oct. 10 that cites the impact of imported bifacial panels on U.S. solar manufacturing, while also raising the scheduled fourth-year tariff rate from 15% to 18%.

The “invisible hand” is a widely understood metaphor for free-market economics. In China’s economy a “visible hand” is more evident, as government interventions are relatively commonplace. And in PV the visible hand is moving again, raising efficiency baselines and potentially changing the solar production game.

Doubling down on renewable energy investment and energy transition spending is required to ensure a truly green global recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and its economic aftershock, claims the International Renewable Energy Agency.

The contract, for mono PERC solar modules, follows 165 MW of orders supplied by Risen to Indian renewable energy developer Sprng Energy last month.

During the financial year 2019-20, Chinese manufacturer Risen was the second-largest PV module supplier to Indian solar installations, accounting for around 9.9% of the overall shipments.