Leading ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member JinkoSolar has secured a JPY5.3 billion (US$47.8 million) syndicated loan agreement for up to two years with a bank consortium led by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) to expand its business in Japan.

The SMSL recently reiterated its PV module shipment guidance to be in the range of 11.5GW to 12GW for 2018, after reporting record 2017 shipments of 9.8GW.

In its latest earnings call, JinkoSolar noted that Japanese FiT subsidies continued to decrease, while there was a gradual shift to a bidding system that was creating new business opportunities.

At Intersolar Europe 2018, Japanese market research firm, RTS Corporation highlighted that proposals have been put forward to the government to support PV deployments of 150GW through 2030 as part of de-carbonising the economy.

RTS also noted that the 2019 FiT system would be lowered to below the general electricity charging rates, potentially pushing higher self-consumption and energy storage in the residential market. 

The market research firm had estimated Japan installed around 7GW of PV in 2017 and guided installations to be in the range of 6GW to 7.5GW in 2018.