Armstrong Asset Management’s $150m South East Asia Clean Energy Fund has signed its first solar deal, agreeing to a strategic cooperation with Thai energy developer Symbior Solar Siam, a subsidiary of Hong-Kong based energy company Symbior Energy. The agreement sees Armstrong acquire a 60% interest in a portfolio of six small-scale solar power plants, delivering a combined capacity of 30MW to the Thai natio ...

The EU have confirmed plans to impose a strict anti-dumping tariff onto Chinese solar panel manufacturers. The news came shortly after a conference at the European Commission. The tariff will be between 37.2 and 67.9%, with an average of 47.6% levied against the companies that did not co-operate in EU investigating into dumping. This action is to counter Chinese dominance in the European market, gained by u ...

India plans to defer fines for solar-thermal power developers that failed to complete $1 billion of plants in time as it seeks to spur investment in the industry. Reliance Power Ltd. (RPWR), Godawari Power and Ispat Ltd. and Lanco Infratech Ltd. (LANCI) are among companies that failed to finish seven projects totaling 470 MW by May because of a lack of water and equipment and financing problems, said Minist ...

Australian scientists have found a way of hugely increasing the efficiency of solar panels while substantially reducing their cost. The University of NSW researchers have come up with improvements in photovoltaic panel design that had not been expected for another decade. The breakthrough involves using hydrogen atoms to counter defects in silicon cells used in solar panels. As a consequence, poor quality s ...

Green Earth Power (Thailand) or GEP is seeking partners for joint development of its 210 MW solar power plant in Myanmar, the third largest of its kind in the world and costing nearly 9 billion baht. The company also plans to mobilise funds from the Stock Exchange of Thailand for a bigger Myanmar plant with a capacity of 300 MW and projects in other Asean countries including Thailand. Managing director Supa ...

Solar energy developer REC Solar has secured a contract to supply solar panels totalling the power capacity of 72MW for construction of six solar power plants in Thailand. The company will deliver 293,040 REC Peak Energy Series solar panels which will be installed at the SolarCo power plants located in Nakhon Pathom and Suphan Buri provinces. Yanhee EGCO Holding will own and operate the plants, while Italth ...

This doesn’t look good. Suntech, the embattled Chinese solar panel maker, has canceled $1.3 billion in polysilicon orders with South Korea chemical giant OCI. Polysilicon is the key raw ingredient in photovoltaic panels and Reuters reports that the disclosure by OCI in a regulatory filing sent OCI’s shares tumbling 9.5% to a six-year low on South Korea’s stock exchange. But don’t expect Suntech’s assembly l ...

Two subsidiaries of Bouygues Construction have signed a US$50m contract for the design, construction and maintenance of three photovoltaic power plants in the Tak and Sukhothai provinces of north-east Thailand. Bouygues Thai and Bouygues Energies & Services are carrying out the work for solar energy producer Soleq Solar Thailand. In total, the three solar farms will be equipped with more than 100,000 ph ...

Indonesia intends to put up 36 solar power plants in 2013, particularly in remote and border areas. According to Alihudin Sitompul, the director of renewable energy and energy conservation at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the government’s plan is to increase the number of solar power facilities to 153 this year, from last year’s 117. To date, Mr. Alihudin said the central government and its ...

Korea Midland Power (KOMIPO) will construct 68MW solar photovoltaic power plants and sell electric power to a local electricity company in Kansai region, Japan. This is the largest solar photovoltaic power generation plant in Japan. KOMIPO concluded on April 12 contracts with CEF, a renewable energy company in Japan, and S-Energy, a solar module company in Korea, for jointly developing 10MW solar photovolta ...