As 2019 enters its final quarter, the solar industry continues to face headwinds, even as the markets for solar deployment in Europe, the United States, and Australia remain strong. Paula Mints of SPV Market Research takes us through what to expect up until 2021.

After the “June rush” to complete solar projects in China – as well as the commissioning rush in Vietnam, which saw higher-than-expected demand of 4 GW in the first half – the growth of the regional solar market started to slow down in July and August, before anticipated Chinese demand picks up the slack again. With unexpectedly low demand in the third quarter, module manufacturers reacted first by marginally reducing utilization rates. Cell producers then cut production after cell prices collapsed.

When Sony first commercially introduced lithium-ion batteries in 1991, the industry recognized their potential to revolutionize portable electronics. Ever since, there have been countless efforts to improve the technology, with many researchers focusing on energy density and longevity, in line with demand from emerging applications such as electric vehicles (EVs) and on-grid energy storage. Julian Jansen and Youmin Rong of IHS Markit discuss the effect of safety concerns on this rapidly growing global market.

The dire assessment from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) made it very clear this past year: To avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis, a significant shift to clean energy sources must be well underway by 2030.

Looking back at the PV market in 2018, micro module technologies started maturing in development and moving on to mass production, writes TrendForce analyst Lions Shih. Modules are no longer limited to a single design as before, but rather continuing on the path toward diversification in 2019. The situation is spreading into other areas, as may be seen in the upstream silicon wafer and cell segments.

Visitors to this year’s Solar Bangladesh Expo have called for the implementation of quality standards on solar imports – action which the government is currently pursuing – with one industry insider rubbishing Indian-made products.

The Chinese solar manufacturer today admitted it is in talks with its lenders and strategic investors about a break up of the company after its 2018 annual accounts revealed an apparently unserviceable debt pile. Any strategic investor is likely to constitute a Chinese state-backed bail-out.

Since debuting in 2007, green bonds have raised nearly $800 billion for investment in clean energy and other sustainability projects and companies are now pegging bond interest payments to their environmental performance.

The latest blow in the political battle between clean energy project developers and an anti-renewables state government has seen the electricity regulator order power distribution companies to honor PPAs signed after a public tender.

The latest date for hearing the petition will fall just four days after shareholders vote on a proposed Chinese state-backed HK$1.55 billion bail-out of the business.

Getting on for 300 international exhibitors are attending the Solar Bangladesh Expo in Dhaka which opened today and runs until Saturday. pv magazine’s Syful Islam is walking the floors and hearing optimistic messages.

The German utility has finalized its investment plan for the massive PV array, which will be built in the state of Brandenburg from the start of 2020. It first announced the project — the largest subsidy-free PV plant under development in Germany thus far — back in the spring.

The Hong Kong-based solar manufacturer appears to have posted impressive revenue gains this year, based on preliminary, unaudited operating results for the first three quarters of 2019. But as the troubled company continues to pin its hopes on a much-anticipated turnaround in Chinese solar demand, its long-term outlook remains uncertain, mere weeks before the scheduled de-listing of its shares in Taiwan.

Philippines-based AC Energy will work with UPC Solar Asia Pacific – the solar energy unit of Hong Kong-headquartered UPC Renewables – to build more than 1 GW of solar in the coming years, with an initial focus on Asian markets such as India, South Korea and Taiwan.

Over the last decade, DuPont has surveyed more than 2 GW of PV installations and has analyzed a range of failure types and their causes. Hong-Jie Hu, DuPont’s solar technical and development lead in China, says that the materials giant is looking for Australian partners for its Global Field Survey program, with a particular interest in hot and humid and desert environments.

Researchers in Chicago have developed a world first fully rechargeable lithium-carbon dioxide battery, an achievement they claim could pave the way for the use of the greenhouse gas in advanced energy storage systems.

The islands of the Caribbean have been focusing on the deployment of storage solutions, minigrids and microgrids in response to the damage their power systems suffered during the 2017 hurricane season. But with the opportunities, there are also challenges.

Scientists at the United States Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have discovered a root cause of dendrite formation, which can cause battery failure and even fires in lithium-ion technology. With this new knowledge, the group is now working on electrolyte recipes that eliminate dendrite growth entirely.

Scientists at Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research have developed a new method to produce lithium-sulfur based cathodes which exhibit stable performance and high storage capacity over 200 cycles. According to the agency, this represents “a promising step towards the commercialization of lithium-sulfur batteries.”

New company NGEN appears to have introduced the Powerpack battery to central Europe in a €15 million, 12.6 MW/22.6 MWh project in the northwest of the country which is the first of two planned utility scale systems due for completion by July.

German polysilicon producer Wacker Chemie AG has reduced its earnings expectations for 2019, citing low prices for polysilicon. The company blamed the polysilicon price slump on oversupply from competitors in China, which muted an expected price increase in the second half of 2019.

In the run up to our Greenwashing vs. verifiable sustainability webinar, the CEO of pv magazine’s UP initiative partner SMA Solar Technology, Jürgen Reinert, talks about what the inverter manufacturer is doing to prove its sustainability credentials.

There is movement in the heterojunction space, but will it be enough to surpass PERC’s momentum? New production lines show promise, but they might also be the last roll of the dice for Swiss production equipment supplier Meyer Burger.

European partners have submitted a joint proposal to use EU-made solar modules and wind turbines to power green hydrogen for use by heavy industry. The partners hope to secure designated status and backing from the bloc’s deep coffers.

With the 600 MW production line the company’s annual module production capacity will approach 2 GW.

CEO Elon Musk has continued to tease the November release of the company’s all-electric utility vehicle. In a tweet, Musk suggested the design resembled an “armored personnel carrier”.

A report published recently by the United Kingdom’s National Infrastructure Commission says that the UK’s regulatory system must “adapt to meet the demands of the future” by providing new powers for regulators to ensure utility investments in sustainable infrastructure. The report notes that without such powers, the country will be unlikely to meet its target of zero emissions by 2050.

Automotive Electronics Power Private Ltd. (AEPPL), an India-based lithium-ion battery manufacturing venture between three Japanese companies, aims to produce 30 million cells per year by 2025.

The German developer and independent power producer claims it finished its latest solar project in the country about one month ahead of schedule.

Roth Capital Partners expects the U.S. residential storage market to grow more quickly than expected. The prediction is founded just as much in disaster mitigation as it is in economic viability.