The warranty risk of solar must be addressed early in the development phase of PV projects, as it is not possible to buy warranty insurance later during the operational phase. Decisions taken by developers at this stage will remain important for the next 25 years. The good news is that an industry standard exists, and it can be easily and cost-effectively applied to most PV projects, writes Ronald Sastrawan from Munich Re.

Recent years have seen an explosion of installed PV capacity across the European Union, fueled by the well-documented rapid reduction in technology costs and favorable subsidy regimes in many jurisdictions. However, one corner of Northern Europe remains relatively untouched by the solar revolution, writes Adam Sharpe of Everoze. The Republic of Ireland currently has the second-lowest amount of installed PV capacity in the European Union, at just 36 MW by the end of 2019.

The solar sector is no stranger to breaking records. Perhaps the most impressive figure to emerge from SolarPower Europe’s new ‘Global Market Outlook’ is that the global solar sector will reach terawatt scale by 2022 – just four years after the 500 GW milestone was reached. Michael Schmela from SolarPower Europe sets out the reasoning behind this and other key findings in the report.

As the Covid-19 pandemic gradually eases, countries around the world have slowly begun to relax lockdown measures. Some countries have also launched varying types of economic stimulus to support the solar sector. In contrast to others, the Chinese market is stable, as the country has had some success in controlling the virus.

This year marks a uniquely critical juncture on the road to universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy. The massive disruption caused by Covid-19 complicates the outlook to 2030, which is the target date for reaching UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7, writes Rohit Khanna, manager of the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program.

But Israeli inverter company Solaredge and Indian engineering, procurement and construction services provider Sterling and Wilson have both offered hope of a recovery in Europe as Chinese glass producer Xinyi said it kept the furnaces going throughout the worst of the pandemic.

Rudolf Staudigl highlighted polysilicon manufacturing overcapacity among Chinese competitors as he announced Covid-19-battered second-quarter figures for the Munich-based chemicals conglomerate.

The Norwegian company mothballed its Washington State facility more than a year ago and is now reliant on semiconductor-grade poly and silane gas produced at its fab in Butte, Montana – a facility for which the business says it has received plenty of interest from potential purchasers.

The inverter and energy storage company was able to maintain its streak of profitable quarters in what was expected to be a hard period for solar and the Israeli business said it sees “signs of recovery in the U.S.”

Mercom India Research has said the quarterly value of solar cell and module imports was down 83% in the second quarter of the year, compared to the same period of 2019, to sit 54% lower than the value recorded in the January-to-March window.

Chinese solar cell manufacturer Tongwei has raised its cell prices by 9% this week after having increased them by 10% three weeks earlier. Another cell manufacturer, Aiko Solar, has unveiled a plan to deploy 36 GW of new cell production capacity.

pv magazine editor Pilar Sánchez Molina takes a look at PV sector news from 10 years ago as part of an ongoing series. These insights bring back memories of an exciting, challenging period, while pointing to where we might be in 2030.

Analysts at Wood Mackenzie have looked at plans for the incoming decade and concluded that about 119 manufacturing sites will be up and running by 2030. China currently sits firmly in the driving seat, with Asia Pacific comprising 80% of global manufacturing capacity, but Europe is catching up.

Solar Inventions, the winners of the first American-Made Solar Prize, plan to commercialize their newest product, which is claimed to reduce silver content and increase module power, while potentially saving manufacturers up to $1 million per year.

The new material is not commercially available yet, but in trials the materials allegedly proved its technical and economical superiority over NMC 622, NMC 811 and NCA batteries.

Dutch researchers have analyzed the two most promising solar-assisted technologies to produce green hydrogen, based on the levelized cost of hydrogen. They found that PV-powered hydrogen production offers the lowest costs, at $6.22/kg, with a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency ratio of 10.9%.

Bidders have until Aug. 25 to show interest in an engineering, procurement, and construction contract for a 25 MW floating solar plant in Khandwa district, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

The 120 MW solar project near Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, the first renewable energy asset in the portfolio of network owner Spark Infrastructure, has achieved a critical milestone in the face of market challenges and delays.

According to the Mining and Energy Planning Unit (UPME), there are currently 385 projects totaling 15 GW at different stages of development, including 4 biomass, 17 wind, 93 hydro, 271 photovoltaic and 7 thermal.

As Facebook races to meet its goal of becoming 100% powered by renewables by the end of this year, it has made another massive investment in clean energy by signing contracts for 806 MW of new solar and wind capacity, with projects in Ireland and the US states of Utah, Ohio, Illinois, and Tennessee.

U.S.-based Toledo Solar has secured a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct research on lighter, steel-backed solar modules.

Presented at the SNEC fair in China, the Niwa Super module series has a power output ranging from 570 W to 615 W and a reported efficiency of 22.1%.

Scientists in the U.S. have come a step closer to taking advantage of singlet fission – a phenomenon seen in certain solar cell materials that promises to greatly increase energy yield. By designing and testing various molecules, the group was able to better understand the fundamental processes behind the mechanism and optimize materials to better take advantage of it.

The facility’s size and operational pattern could be optimized using a mixed-integer linear programming-based model. By selling hydrogen, supplying grid ancillary services and selling by-product oxygen, power-to-gas economics could be dramatically improved.

The new results mark an improvement on the institute’s previous 24.3% efficiency record. The III-V tandem solar cell is directly grown on silicon.

In the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, a balcony module, with an upfront investment of €350 to €500, can provide electricity with a current value of €54 per year. The payback period ranges from six to nine years.

China’s Yingli Solar is partnering with a number of high-profile players in its domestic market to achieve mutually beneficial endeavors and promote the country’s clean energy sector.

Module manufacturing giant Canadian Solar says it has seen demand for modules bounce back in the second quarter of 2020, with module shipments and revenue for the period both exceeding guidance. The company is pressing ahead with plans for a second listing on a stock market in China as part of its strategy to deal with accelerating industry growth and market consolidation over the coming months.

The Chinese manufacturer introduced new PV modules this weekend at the SNEC solar exhibition in Shanghai.

Researchers have announced a new technique that is a modified version of the isotropic diffuse model.

Utility Jemena has agreed to produce hydrogen gas for Hyundai’s Macquarie Park headquarters in greater Sydney from early 2021.

A study by DB Energie shows that technically and legally there is nothing to be said against the transport of hydrogen by rail. However, there is still a lack of suitable transport containers.

Policy support for battery energy storage is gaining momentum across Europe as national governments remove regulatory barriers and the EU pledges financial support for this emerging technology. In several countries, revised capacity markets now allow energy storage operators to compete for subsidy contracts on a more equal footing with power generators. Support from the European Battery Alliance and €1 billion in loans from the European Investment Bank in 2020 alone should help shore up investor confidence. Battery storage will be a key component to support the growth of solar PV – but the rollout of projects will have to accelerate faster to fulfill this potential.

The high-profile electric car maker is conducting a survey of German customers to gauge their interest in a Tesla electricity tariff.

Researchers in Singapore have taken a deep dive into spinel oxides – a class of materials known to act as a catalyst in the production of hydrogen through water electrolysis. Better understanding of how the materials work enabled the scientists to develop a machine learning model to predict their efficiency.