Modules account for a huge percentage of a project’s total costs, and given that independent power providers have lower margins in the Indian solar energy sector, even a small increase in module pricing can put them under more strain.

Some time ago, when I lived in the center of Berlin, I was a regular at the farmers’ market to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. One greengrocer advertised his wares with the words “cheap today, expensive tomorrow.” It would almost be desirable if we PV wholesalers could offer our modules with a similar slogan. Unfortunately, no one in the industry can currently claim that solar modules are cheap – quite the opposite. Following a brief respite, prices have climbed again in recent weeks. Since the previous low in September 2020, prices for new, grade-A goods have already risen by an average of 20% to a level not seen since April 2019.

The global single-axis tracker market increased shipment volume by 40% year on year to reach 45 GW in 2020. This was despite significant pandemic-related supply chain turbulence that resulted in longer lead times for the delivery of components, the idling of steelmaking capacity in some key markets, container shipping dislocation, and widespread restrictions, particularly at ports. Most notably, this caused the cost of some commodities, such as steel, to more than double between 2020 and 2021. Jason Sheridan, a senior research analyst for IHS Markit, runs through some of the key developments in the tracker market.

This summer, IHS Markit published its annual global ranking of EPC providers that build in-house developed and third-party PV projects, based on last year’s installations. 2020 was a year of many contradictions, with lockdowns and increasing component prices taking their toll on many of the companies, both large and small. At the same time, EPC providers with their main share of business in mainland China and the United States had a remarkable year.

For developers and investors who are ready to start talking about solar+storage projects, there are some interesting and not so straightforward decisions to be made on the sizing of assets. Siobhán Green, lead on battery storage in continental Europe for Everoze, looks at the different approaches to sizing and how to choose between them. In particular, she assesses the ‘lifetime’ factors to dimensioning and discusses how to plan for degradation and potential through-life resets to the revenue stack.

Artificial intelligence is already demonstrating its climate change chops, for example by analyzing satellite images to better detect and monitor methane leaks from fossil fuel infrastructure.

Solar energy pioneer and founder of Wiki-Solar, Philip Wolfe updates his series of blogs on the world’s largest solar power stations, first published in pv magazine in 2019. At that time, there were no single solar power plants over 1 GWAC. The record now is 2.2 GWAC.

The race to electrify passenger cars is picking up pace, writes Prachi Mehta, senior research analyst for Wood Mackenzie. Competition among leading EV automakers is fierce, as 2024 looms as a watershed year when auto battery-pack prices cross a key consumer threshold.

The outlook for U.S. residential solar remains strong, according to Jesse Pichel of ROTH Capital Partners. The large-scale segment, however, is hampered by rising costs and the likelihood of sanctions on Xinjiang-made materials.

Project finance for infrastructure in emerging economies is one of the central issues of the upcoming COP26 agenda. For the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) and its parent organization, the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), the event is likely to bring considerable global focus on what it does and how it does it. In the following Op-ed Martijn Proos from Ninety One, the EAIF’s managers, discusses the role of EAIF and how it is helping to fund new renewable energy capacity across Africa.