Solar industry powers up sales

Trade penalties in US, Europe offset by drive for on-site PV installations

Higher tariffs and tougher regulations imposed by Europe and the United States seem to have had the opposite effect from what was intended on China's solar companies as their global module shipments hit record highs for the second quarter, an industry report said.

From April to June, the volume of module shipments from China's major solar companies rose 26 percent to 5.2 gigawatts of capacity, compared with the previous quarter, according to a report by NPD Solarbuzz.