With the release of second quarter financial results, the rankings of global module shipments in the first half of the year can be confirmed. JinkoSolar shipped 4.8 GW to take first place in this period.

By 2025, Taiwan aims to reach a cumulative installed solar PV capacity of 20 GW. However, by mid-2018, just 11.2% of this goal had been met. TrendForce analyst, Rhea Tsao, examines the situation and discusses what needs to be done to reach the target.

Module degradation tests are essential not only for effective plant operations, but also to ensure an optimum ROI. However, fixed laboratories, where such tests are usually carried out, involve transportation issues, while it is not always economically feasible to send in mobile laboratories. So how can degradation in these instances be measured? Leonardo Enrique Pérez Abreu, Technical Manager of the Testing & Optimization department at Enertis discusses this issue.

World Overshoot Day marks the day the world has used up its annual budget of the resources it could have sustainably consumed. Despite efforts in relevant sectors, the date is creeping forward every year. Twenty years ago, it was in late September.

India is currently the second largest market in the world for PV module demand. With China’s domestic demand frozen since the 31/5 notification, the country’s total module demand in 2018 will likely only achieve 32-34 GW. This will allow India, which may surpass 10 GW in annual demand, to reach 13% of global PV demand this year. As a result, the future of India’s trade war has become an influential factor in the global PV industry.

Caterpillar-branded SunPower modules will be available in Southeast Asia, Africa, South America, and the Middle East – but not yet the United States.

Increasing scrutiny is putting pressure on the world’s biggest oil and gas companies to jump aboard the green energy wagon. While some are making efforts to divest away from conventional energies, figures estimate that just 1.3% of total CAPEX in 2018 from the leading 24 companies will go to alternative energies.

Lazard’s newly released Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis 12.0, and Storage 4.0, finds that where utility scale wind works, it dominates – and that the unsubsidized cost to build new utility wind and solar facilities is equal to, and often less than running already-built fossil facilities.

Companies keen to offset their carbon emissions will be able to purchase renewable energy certificates at Singapore’s first blockchain-powered marketplace, launched by electricity provider SP Group.

The entire capacity of an experimental mixed auction for wind and solar has been awarded to large-scale PV projects, the French Government announced. The average tariff price secured was €54.94/MWh.

The country’s fourth long-term power auction, originally scheduled for November, will now be held on December 18. The preliminary call for the auction was made in March.

While analyzing the role of social spillovers in the adoption of solar energy solutions, a research team has found that cultural and language barriers may represent a factor causing lower levels of development. In particular, they discovered that the adoption of rooftop PV solutions may be up to 20% lower in border regions between the French-speaking and the German-speaking parts of Switzerland.

The Indian company will build a 100 MW solar park in the Akërni salt flats, near Vlorë. A 50 MW section of the plant will sell power to the local distributor at €59.9 per MWh over a 15-year period, while the remaining portion will sell electricity at market prices.

Project developer Sunseap has announced plans for one of the world’s largest PV systems floating on seawater, to be built in the Johor strait which separates Singapore and Malaysia. The 5 MW system is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2019.

The leading trio – China, the United States and India – will comprise 70% of the projected 552 GW of solar capacity, which will be added between end-2017 and 2027, finds Fitch Solutions, which has revised down its original forecast for solar capacity growth in China. The curbed growth in China, due to subsidy cuts and restricted access to the United States and India, is expected to squeeze domestic solar equipment manufacturers, but also lead to access to cheaper solar panels in other smaller markets.

A team of researchers from Germany’s Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg has developed a new approach to perovskite cell production, which they say could result in better stability and longer lifetimes. The team also made detailed observation of the perovskite’s formation and decay, which could help to inform further research into high performance solar cells.

In late September, Heraeus launched its Selectively Coated Ribbons (SCR) technology. The product will be rolled out in partnership with ribbon supplier Ulbrich. Delivering a 1.9 W power output boost without any equipment investment and with few process changes, Heraeus’ Toralf Eggert and Ulbrich’s Peter Berghofer claim SCR will make conventional busbars competitive with unwieldy multi-busbars.

Chinese monocrystalline manufacturer Longi Solar Technology has broken its own record for PERC module efficiency, reaching 20.83% in independent testing conducted by TÜV Süd.

The first annual Battery Performance Scorecard has turned up interesting findings, including the fact high temperatures can help or hinder power output – depending on the product, and seemingly in equal measure.

The rise of batteries will attract that headline figure in investment up to 2040, say analysts, as exponential growth in EV ownership, falling stationery system costs and the needs of the world’s grid-poor regions combine to boost lithium-ion technology.

The Taiwanese solar manufacturer secured the funds from a consortium of banks formed by First Bank, Taiwan Cooperative Bank, Mega International Commercial Bank and CTBC Bank.

Enphase’s 3rd quarter results saw revenues at $78 million with an estimated $10 million sales shortfall due to a component shortage, as the company shipped 204 MW of inverters. Future speculation saw an international play on the IQ8, the SunPower partnership, and energy storage driving growth.

A day after signing a 300 MW production capacity deal with the building materials company, the German company has announced exactly the same order – with the same customer – for a facility elsewhere in China.

Developers gave short shrift to warnings about depreciation, protectionism and tax headwinds as tendering and auction figures soared, but shied away from tough price caps set for the Solar Energy Corporation of India’s procurement exercises.

The polysilicon, PV wafer and module and inverter maker has arranged a second EGM of 2018 to seek permission for two bond issues, as its peers scramble to raise their manufacturing capacities.

CPUC has signed off on four lithium-ion battery projects in California, the United States, one of which at 300 MW is the largest battery project to date known by pv magazine.

Zinc battery specialist NantEnergy has acquired the U.S. energy systems and services business from Japanese electronics giant Sharp. The acquisition, according to NantEnergy, will provide the company with an important foothold in the U.S. market and allow it to provide “energy as a service” business models, using its Zinc-air battery, in multiple markets.

BYD’s electric bus business is growing at an healthy rate. Geely’s EVs lag their more traditional counterparts – but are gaining ground.

At an event in London, a new tool was presented which lets the user track the UK storage landscape. The market is gaining traction amidst disfavourable policies for solar PV and other renewables from Westminster. The UK’s storage portfolio seems to be growing rapidly.

The International Renewable Energy Agency says Asia is offering the largest amount of people mini grid access, with the development of such systems mostly led by governments. Global installed capacity reached 308 MW at the end of 2017.