North America PV News Snippets

Schneider Electric has acquired controlling stake in EnergySage; CUSMA dispute settlement panel rules in favor of Canada in case with US on solar safeguard tariffs; Timken will supply its high-precision drives for 2 GW Al Dhafra PV2 site in UAE's Abu Dhabi.

Schneider Electric invests in EnergySage: Schneider Electric has purchased a controlling stake in online renewable energy marketplace EnergySage for an undisclosed amount. For EnergySage, the deal will provide resources to speed up its growth and product innovation. It will be able to also build new solutions for high-efficiency HVAC, smart home devices and other clean energy products and services.

Canada wins CUSMA dispute against US: The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) dispute settlement panel has decided in favor of Canada with regard to then US President Donald Trump imposing safeguard tariffs on Canada made solar panels being imported into the US. The CUSMA dispute settlement panel has found that the tariffs are in violation of CUSMA. According to Canada, since the imposition of the tariffs in early 2018, Canadian exports of solar products to the US declined by as much as 82%. Now the US has to terminate the tariffs on Canadian imports completely by March 16, 2022 (45 days from the decision), said North American solar module maker Heliene. It added, "We look forward to moving ahead with new expansion plans and developing the world's premier high-quality and cutting-edge solar products to serve the North American market."

Timken joins Al Dhafra PV2 project in Abu Dhabi: US based engineered bearings and power transmission products producer The Timken Company will supply its high-precision drives for 2 GW Al Dhafra PV2 site in UAE's Abu Dhabi. Planned to be the largest single-site solar power plant, the Al Dhafra facility is scheduled to come online in 2022 with 4 million solar panels. Timken will provide 83,000 ConeDrive high-precision solar-tracking technology that control the solar panels for the facility and were developed by its ConeDrive subsidiary. In September 2021, China's Arctech said it has been chosen to supply its SkySmart II solar trackers for the facility (see Chinese Trackers For Al Dhafra PV2 Project).