Spanish solar panel maker Isofoton, which expects European panel sales to fall due to cuts in government subsidies, aims to raise production capacity five-fold to 1.5 GW in two years, by forming joint ventures in China, the Middle East and Latin America. Europe would account for just half of its sales this year, compared to all of its sales two years ago and Spain accounts for just 2% of sales, according to Chief Executive Angel Serrano. It plans to establish 300 MW of panel production capacity in each of the new regions to add to its existing 200 MW of capacity in Malaga, southern Spain, and 100 MW of wholly-owned capacity which is slated to come on stream in September in Ohio in the United States. Serrano said Isofoton signed a preliminary agreement with state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp’s battery unit Tianjin Lishen in February. It was now discussing a joint venture with its Chinese partner to build a plant with an annual capacity of 150 MW of panels and related energy systems, including power storage batteries. This month, Isofoton and GCL-Poly Energy Holdings, China’s largest producer of polysilicon, announced they had signed a memorandum of understanding to co-develop and build 1,000 MW of solar farms in the global market. They plan to form a joint venture to make solar power system trackers that orient solar panels toward the sun to maximize a system’s conversion of sunlight into electricity. Isofoton will supply the expertise in trackers and high concentration photovoltaic panels while GCL will be responsible for arranging project finance and engineering, procurement and construction services. Isofoton also agreed to buy all of the solar wafers needed to make the panels for the solar farms. The agreement, if realized, will allow GCL to boost sales and plant utilization.

China Central Television (CCTV) reported in its Weekly Quality Report program that a recent Beijing Consumer Association test of 63 samples of children’s clothes revealed that nearly a third failed to meet quality and safety standards. The Association said that problems included excessive levels of formaldehyde and other carcinogenic chemicals. The samples came from 47 randomly selected companies that make and distribute clothing found in retail outlets, shopping malls and online shopping websites. A total of 21 items failed to meet standards. One type of clothing contained banned aromatic dyes that are carcinogenic but used to make clothes brighter for longer. Others were found to contain formaldehyde levels more than twice the dangerous level. Some brands were deemed substandard because the color of their clothes faded significantly after washing, or because false information about materials was mentioned.

A nationwide information management system for water resources will be set up within the next three years to improve China’s ability to monitor rising water consumption and deteriorating water quality. The system, with a total investment of CNY1.8 billion, will establish 14,000 water monitoring sites throughout the country to collect local information on water consumption and water quality. Analysts said the lack of sufficient water quality monitoring hindered the country’s ability to mitigate damage triggered by chemical spills. By 2030, more than 95% of key rivers and reservoirs with specific functions, such as providing drinking water, expected to be up to standard on quality, a sharp increase from 46% in 2011. Also, China plans to contain total water consumption to less than 700 billion cubic meters a year by 2030. The country currently consumes more than 600 billion cu m of water a year, or about three-quarters of its exploitable water resources. The average amount of water resources available per capita in China is only 2,100 cu m, or about 28% of the world’s average. About two-thirds of Chinese cities suffer from water shortages, while nearly 300 million rural residents lack access to safe drinking water. About 17% of drinking water in urban areas fails to meet quality standards when it leaves the factory. Newly revised standards will be applied to all of China on July 1, Shao Yisheng, Director of the Monitoring Center said. The new standards raises the number of water quality indicators from 35 to 106, making it closer to international standards. Shao admitted that only 58.2% of the water tested between 2008 and 2009 by the Center in urban areas met quality standards. Many water treatment plants in cities are not ready to implement the new standards because they lack equipment or the personnel needed to test all of the 106 water quality indicators, Ma Jun, Director of the Institute for Public and Environment Affairs said. “The key is to protect the water sources and keep tap water plants’ operation transparent,” Ma added.

Nearly half of Shenzhen’s coastal waters were found to be seriously contaminated last year, and nine sewage drainage lines were found to be discharging excessive pollutants, according to a maritime study. The problem could worsen this year, as some temporary efforts to improve water quality last year for the World University Games are no longer in effect. The 2011 study, issued by Shenzhen’s Urban Planning and Land Resources Commission, found a total of 565 square kilometers of seriously contaminated seawater. Of the remaining waters, 145 sq km were lightly or moderately polluted, and 435 sq km were clean. The contaminated waters were concentrated in Deep Bay and at the mouth of the Pearl River. Inorganic nitrogen and phosphates were the major pollutants. Though the report covered only waters off Shenzhen, Professor Xu Hong, who has taught marine chemistry at Shenzhen University, said that the contaminated water could make its way to other areas, including Hong Kong. He blamed illicit discharging of pollutants, along with a lack of oversight, for the heavy pollution. “The government has been addressing excessive discharge through campaigns rather than regular monitoring and checks,” he said. In the bays of Dapeng and Daya, both in east Shenzhen, the water was relatively clean. Most areas off Shenzhen where seafood and other marine products are farmed met safety standards, as they are mostly in the east.

Many restaurants in Beijing are still improperly disposing of their food waste despite regulations that encourage proper treatment and recycling, according to research by the Beijing-based NGO Green Beagle, which surveyed 60 restaurants in the city’s Chaoyang district. “The food waste produced by the capital’s restaurants is supposed to be sent to the food waste treatment factory at Gao’antun in the northeastern part of Beijing or Nangong in the south to transform it into organic fertilizer,” said Chen Liwen, who headed the research. He said restaurants in the capital produce at least 600 tons of kitchen waste daily, but the two food waste treatment factories only receive some 100 tons. “It’s distressing to see food waste, which might become useful fertilizer, animal feed or energy, mixed with facial tissue, disposable chopsticks and plastic bags,” Chen said. The violators are not limited to small restaurants deemed poor in quality, Chen said. She added even some of the established, well-known restaurants habitually break the rules. “Since the restaurant will not be punished no matter what … few restaurants are strictly abiding by the guidelines,” said Chen. “The treatment of kitchen garbage will be a flourishing industry if we properly classify and dispose of them,” Feng Shaoqiang, Founder of Coanda Energy Co, a Tianjin-based company that transforms kitchen waste into organic fertilizers said.