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.

An investigation by mainland China regulators has found that subsidy payment delays in the northwest region of Ningxia are putting PV projects at risk of bankruptcy.

The CIS thin film solar module maker was taken over, together with its parent company Japan’s oil and gas group, Showa Shell Sekiyu, by Japanese oil refiner Idemitsu.

An analysis of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) assumes that a maximum of 2.5% of Germany’s land is needed for the energy transition. With a higher share of solar in the electricity mix, however, this percentage would be lowered to 2%. The study also says that the expansion of renewables will not endanger nature protection.

The Munich-based company will receive up to €2 million for a large-scale storage facility in southern Germany. The system will consist of 52 lithium-ion car batteries –which are also used in the BMW i3 – and will be coupled with a wind farm.

Rumors of a u-turn on energy policy in the White House have been substantiated by pv magazine’s enquiries, although the respite for renewables may prove temporary, thanks to another fossil fuel-friendly nomination by President Trump.

Electrifying the global energy system with clean energy is the only way to reach the targets set by the Paris agreement on climate change and avoid the catastrophic scenarios outlined by the recent IPCC report. In an interview with pv magazine, Christian Breyer – Professor of Solar Economy at Finland’s Lappeenranta University of Technology – explains a 100% renewables model is not only technically feasible, but also the cheapest and safest option. With solar and storage at its core, the future energy system envisaged by Breyer and his team will not only stop coal, but also nuclear and fossil gas, while seeing solar reach a share of around 70% of power consumption by 2050. By that time, PV technology could cost a third of its current price.

The eastern European nation is being assisted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development with the creation of tender documentation for renewable energy auctions.

The nation’s oil and gas provider is building its first small-sized PV projects at facilities operated by Ukrtransgaz, the Ukrainian gas transport system.

The farming sector alone offers a potential $40bn marketplace, thanks to rice transplanting, pesticide spraying and grain harvesting – says the Council on Energy, Environment and Water thinktank.

An AUS$500,000 capital injection from the arms-length, state-funded renewable energy organisation takes to $800,000 the amount of public money which will be donated to a $1.74m project designed to make procuring clean energy easier for business and local authorities.

Researchers at the University of Amsterdam have found what they describe conclusive evidence that perovskites feature “efficient carrier multiplication,” effectively increasing the single layer efficiency limit from 33% to 44%.

For renewables to claim a more sizable share of the global energy mix, the adoption of energy storage would need to pick up pace and the rapidly increasing size of the EV fleet will offer a scalable way to ramp up such access, says Fitch Solutions.

Lithium Werks has ambitious plans for a global chain of utility-scale production lines that has secured the backing of the Netherlands government and PM Mark Rutte, as EU leaders contemplate a post-US trade future.

A project has demonstrated the numerous advantages of PV recycling and highlighted three techniques to turn panel waste into high-value materials.

There may be a much-vaunted ‘solar renaissance’ in the offing for Europe, but it hasn’t come quickly enough for the Swiss PV equipment supplier, which wants to handle most of its sales and services from China.

TSEC is planning to cut a fifth of its workforce as it changes focus to produce higher-efficiency PERC cells, against a backdrop of more generic products swamping the market because of a slowdown in the world’s biggest market.

Mercedes Benz execs join Eguana Technologies to help drive Calgary-based business’ global expansion plans.

Deal negotiated with local electric utility for cheaper energy and a comprehensive modernization program will enable the poly maker to drive down production costs even more aggressively as it bids for market share in a swollen marketplace.

The Chinese module manufacturer will supply its panels for a huge solar project under development in the Dnipropetrovsk region, in southeastern Ukraine.

Taipei will invest in the company through its National Development Fund and government-run glass manufacturer Yao Hwa Glass Co. Ltd.

The project, under development by Gasunie, Tennet and Thyssengas, will convert wind power into green hydrogen. The plant commissioning should take place gradually starting from 2022.

According to a UC Berkeley study, the falling costs of storage technologies will make it possible for Sub-Saharan countries to rely on decentralized systems based mainly on solar-plus-storage, bringing access to electricity to more than 600 million people.

Lead, sulphuric-acid, nickel, cobalt and rare earth metals are highly toxic and have adverse impacts on the environment and the societies in which they are mined. As the EU is looking to become a world leader in battery production, a report considers new battery technologies – such as sodium-ion – which would have less negative impacts.

Eleven storage projects with a power rating of 50 MW and storage capacity of 54 MWh were selected by the French Energy Regulatory Commission through the tender. One will be in Corsica, while Guadeloupe and Guiana will each have three projects. Martinique and La Réunion will each host two.

Although provisional statistics indicated the country had 230 MW of PV capacity at the end of last year, a new report reveals solar growth in 2017 was larger than expected – at 117.6 MW – and that cumulative installed capacity surpassed 300 MW.