U.S. Solar Firms Try China

The two largest U.S. producers of solar cells and modules, SunPower and First Solar, have announced plans to participate in solar installation projects in China. China is the world’s largest exporter of solar panels and recently quadrupled its goal for solar installations to 21 GW by 2015. At the same time, a two-year solar glut has caused prices for traditional crystalline solar modules to crash. Both U.S. firms plan to demonstrate that their nontraditional solar products can succeed in China’s growing market. SunPower has formed a joint venture with a local manufacturer, a power company, and a business development firm based in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, to make and deploy concentrating solar technology. The system uses parabolic mirrors to reflect light onto high-efficiency solar cells. Meanwhile, First Solar will supply 2 MW of its thin-film cadmium telluride solar modules to a solar project in Xinjiang province. It will be the company’s first commercial demonstration project in China.