In the coming weeks, months, and years, pv magazine will be digging deeper and expanding our sustainability horizons, defining – with your help – the most effective courses of action. What follows is an overview of current sustainability initiatives in the solar and, to a lesser extent, storage industries.

The notion of a circular economy is gaining traction, both in and out of the solar and storage industries. Recently, the European Commission wrote, “The circular economy is now an irreversible global trend,” and there are many initiatives taking place around the world to build a more circular society. As part of our new UP campaign, pv magazine spoke with material solutions provider DSM Advanced Solar to see what it is doing in this area.

In 2017, JinkoSolar was the first Chinese company, and the second solar company, to achieve cradle to cradle certification – a pioneering initiative aimed at designing products in an environmentally and socially positive way. pv magazine spoke to Radu Roman, Product & Business Development Manager – Europe at JinkoSolar about the process, why it is so important to the company, and what’s in store for the future.

This year, pv magazine is setting a new editorial agenda. Via our program, UP, we will be diving deep into the topic of what it means to be truly sustainable, looking at what is already being done, and discussing areas for improvement. Over the coming weeks, months, and years, we will share our findings across our various digital platforms, in our print magazines, and via our roundtable events and webinars. Are you UP for it?

If the world of solar was a newspaper, it would be a tabloid. There is no sector where gossip spreads quite so quickly and ultimately does not contribute much. For an example, Good! New Energy’s Rolf Heynen looks back to 2013, when Europe introduced the Minimum Import Price on Chinese solar panels.

For the past few years, Japan’s solar industry insiders have been eyeing 2019 as a year of transition in the residential rooftop market, as the original 10 year feed-in tariffs come to an end. So, what will this post-FIT landscape look like, and how are Japan’s leading PV suppliers preparing for the future? Hanwha Q Cells’ Japan Marketing Manager Junichi Katayama breaks down the main points.

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.