Solar Power International 2014

It has been approximately 18 months since ABB’s billion-dollar acquisition of inverter supplier Power-One was first announced. ABB displayed its full solar product range at the SPI show last week in Las Vegas. Paolo Casini, vice president of marketing for solar inverters at ABB’s Power Conversion business unit, spoke to pv magazine about the integration of the two strong solar brands.

North America’s biggest trade show, Solar Power International, was big, brassy and the mood was generally high. pv magazine attended with a team of six and here are five key takeaways.

Last week microinverter supplier Enphase Energy unveiled its AC storage product at the SPI trade show in Las Vegas. The announcement attracted considerable hype and pv magazine spoke to Ameet Konkar, Enphase’s senior director of strategic initiatives about the move.

U.S. startup Sunpreme caught the attention of a number of attendees at SPI last week in Las Vegas with its 500 W module. Chief engineer and COO Frank Pham speaks to pv magazine about its strategy and technology.

Whether it is ultimately the PV industry that pulls the battery and energy storage industry up with it as it expands, or whether battery and energy storage ultimately pushes PV along, what became clearer at the SPI 2014 show last week is that the two sectors are becoming more inextricably intertwined.

The bank’s latest research note from the Solar Power International trade show predicts continuing U.S. market growth through 2015, as well as a potential deal on tariffs against Chinese solar products.

The testing and certification institute says the new certification marks a new age of risk reduction, quality and safety for solar plant assets while reducing the risk for PV power plant investors.

At the Solar Power International trade show the head of the Department of Energy announced new investments in projects to drive down the cost of electricity from solar, as well as a new round of loan guarantees to be launched in 2015.

The U.S. solar trade organization has called for a renewed effort to pass the ITC, the coming end of which looms over the industry at the end of 2016. However, it will be an uphill battle at best.

Fraunhofer ISE and the company’s Global Advisory Board member Eicke Weber says the record module efficiency has moved Sunpreme “to the top of the class.”