South Africa’s about-turn on solar panels raises industry ire

South Africa’s plans to buy emergency power, already the subject of a court challenge, face fresh controversy after a local-content requirement for solar-panel frames was scrapped subsequent to the award of the tenders. The 65% local-content requirement on aluminium frames for photovoltaic panels was waived by South Africa’s Department of Trade, Industry and Competition on May 12. That followed an application by ARTsolar, which along with a local unit of China’s Seraphim Solar will be the only beneficiaries of the exemption.