pv magazine’s 2019 Energy Storage Highlights Ceremony

In the second half of 2018, monocrystalline silicon technology passed an important milestone: Quarterly production of monocrystalline ingots, wafers, cells, and modules overtook that of multicrystalline for the first time in the mainstream PV era. This milestone was tracked by PV technology and market forecasting firm exawatt. CEO Simon Price sets out how mono’s rapid growth could have been, and was, predicted.

With tenders coming in for large-scale projects, and decade-old generous FIT programs being phased out, new opportunities and challenges are facing Japan’s PV players. Izumi Kaizuka from Tokyo-based analyst RTS Corporation sets out the major market trends for 2019.

As data drifts in, 2018 is shaping up to have been a record-breaking year for battery energy storage, writes IHS Markit senior analyst Julian Jansen. Especially for front-of-the-meter projects, which experienced rapid growth. This growth was led by significant activity in South Korea, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and China, which together accounted for 78% of battery energy storage projects commissioned in 2018, according to the Q4 2018 edition of the IHS Markit “Energy Storage Company and Project Database.”

Since the PV module market has already witnessed intense industrial concentration over the past few years, the top 10 manufacturers didn’t change significantly as 2018 unfolded, writes PV InfoLink Chief Analyst Corrine Lin. On the cell side, the decline of Taiwanese cell makers has Chinese cell makers filling the top three spots this year.

Situated in south-east India, the state of Andhra Pradesh is a leading producer of renewable energy with 7.2 GW of installed capacity as of December 2018. The state’s share of renewable energy as part of total capacity has trebled in the last four years from 11% in 2014 to 30% in 2018.

In both Belgium and Chile, the planned mandatory installation of smart meters is raising concerns among consumers, residential PV system owners and the solar industry. Although seen as a positive, the early stages of smart meter deployment create issues related to the calculation of net metering tariffs and the management and ownership of consumption data, as well as additional costs for consumers.

The Swiss solar equipment maker has endorsed a claim by Chinese solar manufacturer Longi that the technology it uses differs from that at the center of Hanwha Q Cells’ patent infringement complaints.

A 27 MW solar project will generate energy for the company’s extensive site in Moerdijk, in the south of the country.

The Wuhu-based solar glass maker and PV project developer expects to raise around $167 million to expand operations after diluting stock by issuing shares equivalent to just under 5% of the business.

More than 100 domestic companies are reportedly in the running for a seven-project portfolio that is expected to generate around $1.5 billion of investment – and they will fancy their chances against overseas developers.

The Solarville project, by Ikea’s Danish research and design laboratory, has seen the participation of blockchain companies such as Bloc, Blocktech, WeMoveIdeas India and Temporal. It was conceived to help create cooperative community micro-grids to enable homeowners to become clean energy traders.

Definitive data from analyst Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association show tariffs taking a bite out of the U.S. market, but also a near-record number of new projects under contract.

With more than 200 MW of newly installed PV, 2018 was a record year for Polish solar. Of the nation’s total PV capacity, 339.5 MW comes from 50 kW or smaller arrays.

The Italian energy company has started construction of a 10 MW solar plant at its Bhit gas field in Pakistan and a 5 MW facility at the ADAM oil concession in Tunisia. It has also begun work on a 30 MW solar plant at its industrial site in Sassari, Italy.

The Changzhou-based company, which has established the Shanxi facility with state-owned rival Shanxi Lu’An Photovoltaics Technology, has not revealed what proportion of the factory’s output will feature the high efficiency technology.

A report commissioned by the European Climate Foundation suggests a fossil fuel-free energy system in Europe by 2050 should largely rely on smart electrification and energy efficiency. Green hydrogen deployment, the report finds, would require prohibitively expensive infrastructure investment.

German engineering association the VDMA expects PV system prices to continue to fall, as set out in the latest International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaics report. Falling production costs and rising cell and module performance levels will secure long term competitiveness for PV in the energy mix, says the report. VDMA estimates global production capacity for PV modules reached 150 GW last year.

A Chinese research team has tested large-area perovskite solar cells by sending them into near-earth orbit at 35 km, and has discovered the near lack of oxygen and moisture is good for their stability.

Open-source blockchain platform Energy Web Foundation has revealed the number of its affiliates has risen from 37 to 100 in recent months. New members include EnBW, Total and a unit of the State Grid Corporation of China. The platform was conceived to create an energy-blockchain ecosystem and to accelerate the energy transition.

Our next pv magazine webinar is approaching and has already attracted interest. Is it possible to control LID and LeTID and, if so, how? Here, Andrea Viaro from webinar partner Jinko Solar gives an insight into the manufacturer’s experience.

Profits and revenues were down in a year which saw average selling prices slump – especially after the turbulence in the Chinese market – but the company’s hell-for-leather dash for production capacity expansion and aggressive cost cutting mitigated the ill effects. And there is more to come in the year ahead.

The Korean solar manufacturer has lodged a lawsuit with the Federal Court of Australia against Chinese panel makers Jinko and Longi following similar allegations in the U.S. and Germany.

The PV equipment manufacturer said solar sales remained stable. Major CIGS contracts with Chinese partners Shanghai Electric Group and China Energy Investment Corporation dominated the company’s PV business.

The renowned PV-Lab at Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale De Lausanne today announced that it has taken on the role of coordinator for the EU funded research project ‘Be-Smart’, which aims at developing a European industry for building integrated PV components.

The facility is in the Bor organized industrial zone of Niğde, in central Anatolia. The factory was backed by incentives provided by the country’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources.

The utility could invest up to €7 billion in renewable energy projects up to 2022.

On Thursday, PV conference organizer Solarplaza and Spanish solar association UNEF will host the Solar Market Parity conference in Madrid. pv magazine’s Pilar Sánchez Molina will participate in the Vision of the future: Spain in 2030 panel.

In December, pv magazine met SolaX Power president Li Xinfu and his team at the company’s headquarters in sprawling Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province. The region is a hotspot for the Chinese PV industry and SolaX belongs to the cutting edge of Chinese inverter and residential battery manufacturers.

Aiming to localize production across the electric vehicle value chain, the government wants to support battery manufacturing at a gigawatt-scale. The initial focus will be on large-scale module and pack assembly plants in the new fiscal year, followed by integrated cell manufacturing by 2021-22.

The electric carmaker has signed 12-month credit agreements with three of China’s ‘Big Four’ lenders as well as the development bank for Shanghai as it aims to get its lower-priced Model 3s rolling off the production line by the end of the year.