ABC module manufacturer AIKO has been awarded the Top Brand PV 2025 in Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom by EUPD Research. AIKO states this is a testament to its strong reputation and influence in Europe's key solar markets. This recognition is based on installer surveys and market analysis evaluating product quality, brand awareness, and customer satisfaction. EUPD Research noted AIKO’s consistent excellence and growing trust among installers. AIKO said the award also reflects the success of its Installer Program, which offers partners exclusive business opportunities, marketing support, training, and incentives.
AIKO and LONGi recently jointly released the Back Contact (BC) Solar Technology Development White Paper, said to be the ‘world's first’ authoritative report on BC technology (see China Solar PV News Snippets).
Haitian Group has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Sichuan Haitian Photovoltaic Materials Co., Ltd., has completed the acquisition and asset transfer for the photovoltaic (PV) silver paste business of Heraeus.
Haitian has paid a total of RMB 429 million ($59.33 million) so far in this all-cash acquisition, with the final price expected to be between RMB 430 million ($59.47 million) and RMB 450 million ($62.25 million), including RMB 120 million ($16.60 million) in debt claims. The announcement stated that all industrial and commercial registration changes for the target assets have been completed, and that Haitian Photovoltaics has lawfully inherited all related creditor rights.
TrinaStorage, the energy storage arm of Trinasolar, has received the ‘industry’s first’ IEC 61508-based Functional Safety Process Certificate, issued by UL Solutions. The certificate is accredited by the American National Accreditation Board (ANAB) and meets global recognition standards set by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF). IEC 61508, the international standard in functional safety, covers the entire lifecycle of electronic system design, development, and operational management. It sets quantitative safety requirements for key risk areas such as thermal runaway protection and battery management system (BMS) failure controls in energy storage systems. TrinaStorage says its successful certification demonstrates its leadership in the safety, reliability, and end-to-end risk management of energy storage systems.
Last month, TrinaStorage released the operation report for a 150 MW agri-fishery-PV-storage hybrid project, showing high efficiency of its Elementa ESS in the field (see China Solar PV News Snippets).
The Guohua Rudong integrated photovoltaic, hydrogen production, and energy storage project – designed and built by POWERCHINA – has been fully connected to the grid and begun power generation. It is recognized as China’s largest PV-Hydrogen-Storage Integration offshore PV demonstration project, as well as the country’s first ecological governance-oriented tidal flat PV demonstration initiative.
Located in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, the project has a total installed solar PV capacity of 400 MW along with a 60 MW / 120 MWh storage system. It also includes a booster station, energy storage facilities, and a hydrogen production and refueling station. It is expected to deliver an average of 462.93 million kWh to the grid annually. The project pioneers an ‘offshore PV + vegetation control’ ecological restoration model, serving as a demonstration for green PV-integrated ecological vegetation management in China.
According to data released by China’s National Energy Administration (NEA), 59.71 GW of new solar PV capacity was installed in China during the first quarter of 2025 – a year-on-year increase of 30.54%. The growth was primarily driven by the commercial and industrial (C&I) distributed PV segment.
Ground-mounted PV plants added 23.41 GW in Q1, up 6.75% YoY. The top 3 provinces for new installations were Yunnan (4.83 GW), Xinjiang (3.22 GW), and Jiangsu (1.98 GW).
C&I distributed PV added 31.26 GW, a 52.5% increase from the same period last year, led by Guangdong (4.70 GW), Jiangsu (3.41 GW), and Shandong (2.56 GW).
Residential PV installations reached 5.05 GW, down 27.02% YoY. The top 3 provinces were Jiangsu (1.28 GW), Anhui (835 MW), and Zhejiang (776 MW).