A new wave of consolidation and some reshuffling is underway among market leaders in the solar EPC space, writes IHS Markit’s Josefin Berg. In 2019, the 30 largest EPC providers globally installed 28 GW of non-residential PV, representing 26% of the total market. This increase from 21% in 2018 stems mainly from a growing concentration in the Chinese PV market, as well as integrator concentration in rapidly growing markets like Spain and Vietnam.

Rajendra Khandalkar, group head of supply chain management at India-based infrastructure engineering, procurement and construction services company Sterling and Wilson, has spoken to pv magazine India about learning from the Covid-19 crisis and the importance of smart supplier management to bolster company resilience.

Clean energy is critical to solving our climate crisis. But we need to consider the full environmental and human health impacts of solar energy generation across its entire lifecycle, including mining, manufacturing, use, decommissioning and recycling. This requires us to identify critical stages in the production process, and how choices in materials and chemicals at different stages of production influence each other.

Both the current status, and the future of, solar PPAs in the Turkish market as a key tool for increasing PV capacity has become a widely discussed topic. This is particularly due to the fact that after mid-2021, the future of YEKDEM (Turkey’s local FIT regime) is uncertain. The incentives could be lower than expected, or even unavailable for some technologies. This has raised the question of alternative financing mechanisms with respect to new investments.

This article explores the current state of floating solar PV (FPV), briefly highlighting several leading markets, and discussing benefits and advantages in detail alongside common applications and business model considerations. The outlook for FPV is positive and is set to break free of its niche perception. It could well become the third pillar of the solar PV sector in future.

The advance of PV has been lauded by the International Energy Agency as it launched the latest edition of a flagship World Energy Outlook 2020 report overshadowed by the Covid-19 crisis and uncertainty over how long the economic recovery could take.

Orders fell more than 70% in the second quarter but China’s economic recovery is providing the basis for cautious optimism.

With folks housebound by Covid-19 restrictions and more conscious of their home energy needs, April proved a banner month for companies generating digital leads through their own accelerated transition to a new way of working.

Sustainability-linked debt financing is experiencing ever increasing popularity and the success of green bonds has driven other products linked to social performance and other sustainability criteria. The total volume of such investments to date passed the $2 trillion point this year.

With a previous 50-50 split between equity and debt investment funding for the off-grid market lurching to 84% borrowing, and commentators stating most of this year’s backing was agreed before the onset of Covid-19, fears are mounting about the prospects for the sector.

The country’s cumulative installed PV power hit 2.68 GW at the end of September. Newly installed capacity for the first 10 months of the year has surpassed 1.3 GW.

Global Energy Ventures has revealed new designs for the H2 Ship, a compressed hydrogen ship capable of transporting 2,000 tons of hydrogen from green hydrogen hubs in northern Australia to trading partners such as Singapore, South Korea, China, and Japan.

The developer secured the grid-connected solar capacity in a 700 MW auction by state utility Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited which had a tariff ceiling of INR2.92/kWh ($0.04). The Dholera Solar Park, in Gujarat, is set to eventually have a 5 GW footprint.

Ho Chi Minh City-based construction company Trungnam Group said its army of laborers took just 45 days to perform site clearance for a project which took shape within 102 days.

German group WiNRG completed three of the six projects totaling 205 MW that it is currently building in Portugal.

PV developer Sun’R Power and wind-power specialist Boralex have revealed plans to connect part of the Cambrai-Niergnies solar project and the Seuil du Cambrésis wind farm to a single private substation.

The AUD 500 million facility is Iberdrola’s first renewable energy project in the country, which has become one of the great growth region’s for the Spanish company.

The utility plans to replace the San Juan coal-fired station’s 847 MW of capacity with 650 MW of solar generation and 300 MW/1,200 MWh of accompanying energy storage.

After the slump caused by the Covid-19 crisis, the demand for subsidy-free photovoltaic projects has again picked up in Germany. By the end of 2022, German consultancy company Enervies sees a maximum potential of up to 3.6 GW for photovoltaic systems that could be implemented outside of the EEG subsidy scheme.

Stanford professors Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson were awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in economics for developing a new auction theory and new auction formats for goods and services. Their findings were already successfully used in the electricity energy sector and may now meet the challenge on how to better shape clean energy procurements.

Born from an Oxford research group, the startup is looking to make its name by developing all-perovskite tandems – something no other company has done.

Renewable energy training institutes are springing up all over Nigeria, empowering an army of young people with solar technology skills in a country where unemployment is a huge challenge.

The Solar Mapper uses artificial intelligence algorithms that compile data extracted from satellite images. It can estimate site solar potential and indicate the most suitable technology.

Raach Solar and its Power Utility Bangladesh Ltd local partner have landed two contracts to supply more than 700 pumps in the north-western Bogra district, with the Asian Development Bank footing the bill.

A new algorithm identifies five kinds of faults in PV systems, while also detecting when faults have been resolved to prevent false detections. It is based on the least significant difference test, which is a set of individual t-tests comparing the means of two or more pre-determined groups.

GoodWe is a rapidly expanding inverter manufacturer that recently went public on the Shanghai Stock Market. The company is a major player on the international stage and has increased its market share in every major PV market. What new products and solutions did GoodWe showcase at SNEC 2020 in Shanghai? What is GoodWe’s international marketing strategy? Ron Shen, Vice President of International Sales, addressed these questions during an exclusive interview with PV Magazine.

Sources connected to developers at the site confirm the figure has been agreed with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company but said it was still subject to change. The utility is seeking raised contributions from renewables companies to cover what it says were rises in building material costs.

The China Energy Investment Corp is planning to invest RMB22 billion in a facility in the autonomous region. The state-owned mining and energy company has signed a framework agreement with the government of the city of Yijin Holo Banner for the project.

A new Princeton University study shows that PV plants in hot, arid parts of the world, such as the Middle East and the U.S. Southwest, will be particularly affected by climate change.

The U.S. president issued a proclamation on Oct. 10 that cites the impact of imported bifacial panels on U.S. solar manufacturing, while also raising the scheduled fourth-year tariff rate from 15% to 18%.

An independent power producer, AEP OnSite Partners, will be the first to deploy Wärtsilä’s new storage product.

Solar and energy storage play a key role in Project Gilghi, an off-grid water security system that could help people who have poor access to potable water and sanitation.

Less than a year from now, Australia will start producing its own renewables-storing lithium-ion batteries in New South Wales.

The 18-meter long solar cell-clad trailer is said to enable fuel savings of 5-10% in Sweden. Swedish thin-film manufacturer Midsummer is a partner on the project.

The German Aerospace Center is working with partners in Italy to supply Italian pasta maker Barilla with electricity and heat from renewable sources.