As more states adopt ambitious renewable power and storage targets, hopes increase for continued market opportunities beyond the ITC. In the mid-term, the overall market opportunity is clear. At IHS Markit, we project 73 GW of solar PV systems will be installed in the United States from 2018 to 2022.

Independent energy analyst, Corinne Lin discusses the fallout of China’s recent solar PV policy decision, including decreasing utilization rates and serious oversupply; and a focus on equipment upgrades, particularly for PERC, SE, half cut and bifiacial technologies. The industry will bounce back in 2019, she concludes.

With the percentage of renewables in the global energy mix increasing, and global energy demand projected to increase by 30% over the next two decades, energy storage is more important now than ever. But what are the main technologies for energy storage, and how will these technologies affect global energy? Gabriel Hurtado González, Energy Solutions Manager at Mitie, and Sasaenia Paul Oluwabunmi, Operations Officer at the OPEC Fund for International Development answer this pertinent question.

The booming large scale and rooftop PV market in 2018 is providing reasons to be optimistic about the future of solar under the Australian sun. Reflecting on his six-year tenure as CEO at ARENA ahead of his departure in August, Ivor Frischknecht points to the role the agency played in bringing down the costs of large scale solar as ARENA’s greatest achievement.

For decades, hydrogen has been sold to us as the energy carrier of the future. You might not want to hear it anymore, because the future never seems to start. But times will change as recent developments in Germany indicate, writes Berlin-based renewable energy consultant, Stephan Franz.

The state’s environmental department has participated in a study which calls for the state to increase installed solar 36-fold, to reach 10% of all generation by 2030.

Construction works are expected to start soon on two utility-scale solar PV project in New South Wales with a combined capacity of more than 460 MW, as confirmed by German-based Belectric, which will handle the EPC and O&M duties on both sites.

Reflecting the rapidly changing U.K. energy landscape, the U.K. has surpassed 1,000 hours without using coal this year, up from 624 hours in the whole of 2017, and just 210 hours in 2016. Solar PV is also currently a leading energy source in the country.

The virtual power plant (VPP) solutions provider connected its product with a 2 MW storage system in Belgium. It will be the country’s first storage system to take part in the grid’s frequency control reserve.

The project connects four to six households, and lets dwellers pre-purchase daily access to electricity using a mobile app. A successful trial phase has just been finished and the executing association, Nanoé Développement has set new goals to reach in the near future.

The South Korean government has revealed plans to introduce new environmental guidelines and rules on where PV projects can be built, following a public outcry after a landslide smashed into an operational solar array south of the city of Daegu.

Colombia’s Celsia is issuing green bonds worth US$145 million to finance its large solar PV project pipeline, while U.K.-based Faro Energy is resorting to clean energy bonds to fund its distributed generation (DG) solar projects across Brazil.

The research team used real-world energy consumption data from 4,190 Swiss households to analyze how different cost scenarios may influence optimal photovoltaic-battery (PVB) system deployment.

The project, the capacity of which could range between 200-400 MW, is being planned by Dubai-based Almaden Emirates Fortune Power LLC, a joint venture of holding investment company, Emirates Fortune Group and Chinese solar manufacturer, Almaden. If built, the facility will more than double the country’s current power generation capacity, and help reduce energy poverty.

The Brazilian oil giant has signed a memorandum of understanding with its French strategic ally, Total and its subsidiary, Total Eren to invest in solar and on-shore wind projects in Brazil.

Following the U.K. government’s announcement to significantly increase EV numbers on its roads, a call for applications was announced. Ramping up EV numbers does necessitate a convenient and low-cost charging infrastructure. To achieve this, public administration offices will fund trial phases of promising concepts. Businesses can apply until August 29.

A team of scientists at the University of Kansas has developed a method to boost the lifetime of excited electrons in graphene, a development which the team alleges could lead to the development of highly efficient, ultrathin solar cells.

Researchers from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have developed a process for depositing a perovskite layer onto a silicon solar cell, which it says has already resulted in the creation of a 25.2% efficient tandem cell.

The cell uses a novel approach that increases its conversion efficiency and longevity at the same time. Researchers claim it is a new world record for this type of application and highlight its importance in storing renewable energy in hydrogen to compensate for output and demand fluctuations.

The US-based industry association finds the amount of silver loading may fall from 130 mg per cell in 2016 to approximately 65 mg by 2028. Alternative and cheaper raw materials, such as copper and aluminum, are not expected to replace silver in commercial cell production, at least in the next decade.

At a creditors’ meeting, important decisions have been made regarding the future of the ailing German solar module manufacturer. The creditors have decided to discontinue the loss-making business at the end of September, providing no investor can be found by then.

GTM Research says the 10% tariffs that the Trump Administration is calling for are “significant”, and some companies and sectors will be affected more than others.

The latest reports from analysts at PV InfoLink and EnergyTrend show prices continuing to fall, though at a slower rate than was immediately seen after China’s 31/5 announcements. High efficiency mono-PERC modules fell to around US$0.32/W, while multicrystalline module prices held steady at between $0.26 and $0.29/W.

Currently, new anti-dumping proceedings against solar glass makers from Malaysia are taking place in the EU. Imports of Chinese solar glass have been subject to high anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties since 2014. The European module manufacturers fear further massive competitive disadvantages and the danger of an Interfloat monopoly in Europe.

Chinese PV cell and module manufacturer, Risen Energy announced yesterday that it has started the construction of a new module factory in Zhejiang province in eastern China. The factory is set to have a total capacity of 5 GW.

The German PV home storage provider delivered around 1,500 solar batteries globally last month. At around 75%, most systems went to Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Outlining energy pathways for the next 30 years and beyond, the U.K.’s National Grid has released four different scenarios, considering growing electricity demand and a significant increase in energy infrastructure from new renewable generation and EV charging networks. Only two of them meet the U.K.’s 2050 carbon reduction target on the back of a large growth of renewables and energy storage, and almost completely decarbonized transport.

DNV GL, Deakin University, the CSIRO, and the Smart Energy Council have come together to collaborate on a two-year project to develop a new performance standard for distributed energy storage systems. The work behind the proposed Australian Battery Performance Standard is being funded $1.9 million from ARENA and the Victoria state government.

The Chinese battery manufacturer has said it will establish a fab in Germany’s Thüringen with an annual capacity of 14 GWh. The battery cells will be primarily produced for the electric vehicle (EV) industry. Up to 600 jobs are expected to be created. In related news, BMW has entered a €4 billion long-term partnership with CATL.

EnergyTrend recognizes recent tariffs developments will hit the electric vehicle (EV) industry. Despite this, environmental regulations, as well as costs and technological advancement, will prevail and continue to drive EV sales globally.